The Harris County medical examiner has ruled the death of Migos rapper Takeoff a homicide, just a day after the artist died in a shooting outside a Houston bowling alley on Tuesday. He was 28.
Takeoff, whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, died of “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm,” said the preliminary autopsy report, reviewed by The Times on Wednesday. The report is not yet completed.
According to the Houston Police Department, officers responded to a shooting at 810 Billiards & Bowling shortly after 2:30 a.m. and arrived to find one man dead on arrival During a press briefing Tuesday, Houston police Sgt. Michael Arrington said the shooting occurred after an argument broke out following a private party at the bowling alley.
TMZ reported Tuesday that Takeoff and his uncle and Migos collaborator Quavo were playing dice at the party when an altercation broke out and someone opened fire. Two other people, a man and a woman, reported nonlife-threatening injuries and were hospitalized.
Houston police Chief Troy Finner said Tuesday that he believed two firearms were used at the shooting and that the shooter or shooters were present at the party and in their 20s. Finner added that he and his team had no reason to believe that Takeoff was “involved in anything criminal at the time” of the shooting.
Takeoff performs at the BET Experience in Los Angeles in June 2019.
(Richard Shotwell/ Invision/ Associated Press)
As of Wednesday morning, police have not identified any suspects or announced any arrests.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Finner urged the rap community to take action.
“I’m calling upon everybody — hip-hop artists in Houston and around the nation, we got to police ourselves,” he said. “There’s so many talented individuals, men and women, in that community — who again I love and I respect. We all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry.”
Takeoff, along with Quavo and cousin Offset, made up Migos, the chart-topping trio best known for hits including “Stir Fry,” “Bad and Boujee” and “Walk It Talk It.”
Shortly after news of Takeoff’s death, fellow artists, including Chloe Bailey, Drake and Teyana Taylor, paid tribute on social media.
On Tuesday, Takeoff’s music label Quality Control blamed “senseless violence and a stray bullet” for the rapper’s death. In a separate statement, Quality Control’s co-founder Pierre “Pee” Thomas mourned the slain Migos member.
“I don’t know where to begin but I want to say that anybody that knows me knows how much I love you and anybody that knows you knows that you definitely didn’t deserve to die at such a young age,” he wrote on an Instagram post shared Wednesday.
