Rap magnate Suge Knight shot at pre-VMAs party

Hip hop industry magnate Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, who helmed the careers of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre was shot six times at a pre-VMAs party early this morning.

Knight, who founded Death Row Records in 1991, was attending a party at 10AK on West Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard, when he and two others received gunshot wounds at approximately 1:30am. Knight and the two others, a male and female, were taken to LA’s Ceder Sinai Hospital, where they are receiving treatment.

The party was co-hosted by Chris Brown and the Game was in attendance, both artists were not hit.

Sergeant C. Tatar, Watch Commander at the LA County sheriff’s West Hollywood station said a suspected gang rivalry with the Bloods street gang may have sparked the attack. Gossip website TMZ has reported Knight, Brown and Game are all linked to the Bloods gang.

According to TMZ, 49-year-old Knight reportedly walked out of the nightclub following the shooting before being taken to hospital in an ambulance. Knight is in ICU but is expected to make a full recovery.

MTV has said it had no connection to the pre-VMAs event.

In 2005, Knight was shot in the leg at a pre-MTV Awards party in Miami Beach. Knight has been a polarising figurehead in the US rap community since the death of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997. At the time, ex-detective Russell Poole claimed Knight was involved in Biggie’s death, saying it was a revenge killing for the 1996 death of Tupac Shakur. Later, former Death Row Records artist Snoop Dogg accused Knight of being involved in the murder of Shakur.

Knight has also faced ongoing legal problems. Since violating probation in 2006 and serving almost five-years of a nine-year sentence, Knight has been in and out of prison on parole and traffic violation charges, which reports suggest relate to a ‘rap war’ between himself and East Coast artists.

The 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards 2014 are currently taking place at The Forum in California. Click here to watch the live stream.