Nurse Says She Tried To Help Rapper, TakeOff, On Scene Of Tragic Shooting
TakeOff, of Atlanta rap trio Migos, was shot and killed in downtown Houston on Tuesday outside of 810 Billiards and Bowling Alley. An infusion nurse, whose identity has remained confidential, but lives near the bowling alley heard gunshots from her apartment and rushed to TakeOff’s aid. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the gunshot wound she was unable to aid the rapper.
At about 2:34 a.m., shots were fired and Takeoff was hit, dying just outside the doors of the bowling alley, police said during a press conference. Two other individuals, a man and woman, were shot and treated at a local hospital for non-life-threatening-injuries. Houston police said the shooting stemmed from an argument and it is unknown who the intended target of the shooting was.
Kirshnik Khari Ball, 28, known more commonly as the internationally famous rapper TakeOff, was at a private event with Migos and friends at the time of the incident. TakeOff, the more reserved member of Migos, is the latest high-profile death of hip hop artist.
"I live close by and I heard, 'Pow pow pow pow pow,' and it stopped and I went, 'That's so weird so I got up in my pajamas, go over to the balcony, my neighbors were underneath me. I said 'Did yall hear that?' And they said 'Yeah.' And I said 'I don't think that was a car or firecrackers. That sounded like gunshots,'" she explained.
The nurse later explained that she saw people running from the area but she only left her apartment after she realized that the cries and screams heard were coming from Quavo, another member of Migos and TakeOff's uncle.
After realizing a man had been shot, but unaware that it was TakeOff, the nurse ran to the trunk of her car and grabbed some supplies to help. "You can hear my voice in a video yelling 'I'm a nurse. No, no, no. I'm a nurse,' because I wanted to let them know," she said. "I was scared, but I had to go."
”I could not have lived with myself if I knew I had the equipment to save his life and I didn’t,” she said.
By the time the nurse got to the scene, it was too late. After checking TakeOff’s pulse numerous times she confirmed that he was already dead. "His head was way up and his eyes were rolled back and fixed," she said. "And I saw a pile of blood behind his head." Unable to assist the rapper, she waited on the scene until the police and ambulance arrived.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner have asked the community for help in identifying TakeOff’s killer. No arrests have been made at this time. “We have no reason to believe that he was involved in anything criminal at the time,” Chief Finner said of Takeoff.
"I just want to say something to our city. Houston. And every brother and sister in the neighborhoods," Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner said. "I'm calling you to action, to step up. There were 40 people at least at this event and people left possibly out of fear. I ask you one thing, and I want this to resonate with everybody. What if it was your brother, what if it was your son. You will want somebody to step up, so please step up."
"As you have heard, this was a private party last night of about 40 people. In that group, somebody or the people know who the actual shooter or shooters were," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "Let me just ask, like it has already been asked, that anyone who has information on the shooter/shooters to provide that information to HPD and let us solve this situation."
The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office listed the manner of death as homicide with “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into the arm” stated as the cause of his death.
The nurse, who continues to remain anonymous, hopes that some good will come of the killing. "I just want something good to come out of this. I want somebody to know that good people sometimes show up, just because. This is not my son, but it still hurts me that it's somebody's son," she said. "And I'm digging for answers. I want to know."
