Takeoff dead: Migos rapper shot dead age 28, what happened at party with Quavo?

Rapper Takeoff has been shot dead in Houston, Texas, a representative has confirmed. Takeoff was known for being part of the trio Migos, which also features rappers Quavo, his uncle, and Offset, his cousin. The 28 year old, whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, was with Quavo at the time of the incident.

Houston Police have said that the two were at a private party together prior to the shooting, however they did not confirm the name of the victim of the homicide. Two other individuals on the premises were also shot, and they were taken to hospital. Quavo was unharmed in the incident.

In a statement shared on social media, Migos’ label Quality Control said they were “devastated” by the “senseless violence”.

“It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved brother Kirsnick Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff,” the statement read.

“Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated.

“Please respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss.”

What happened?

According to police, Takeoff and Quavo were together at a bowling alley playing dice early in the morning. Local law enforcement have said that the shooting occurred shortly after 2:30am, which is when police got a call that a man had been fatally shot at 810 Billiards & Bowling.

TMZ has reported that an altercation broke out over the dice game prior to the shooting occurring. Just a few hours before the incident happened, Takeoff had shared a selfie of himself at the bowling alley.

During a press conference streamed online on Tuesday evening, Houston police chief Troy Finner said Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene outside a Houston bowling alley. He added that no arrests had been made yet but called on witnesses to come forward with information.

Finner said: “Sometimes the hip hop community gets a bad name and I know, evident from this city and people who I have a personal relationship with, a lot of great people in our hip hop community and I respect them.

“But back to Takeoff. I got many calls from Houston and outside of Houston, and everyone spoke of what a great young man this is, how peaceful he is, what a great artist. And I’m calling up on everybody, hip hop artists in Houston and around the nation, we got to police ourselves.

“It is so many talented individuals, men and women in that community, who again I love and I respect, and we all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry.”

He added that he does not want to speculate on whether Takeoff was the intended target but noted: “Based on what people say about him, he’s well respected, non-violent. I would not expect him to be involved but I do want to wait on the investigation but we have no reason to believe that he was involved in anything criminal at the time, just as people describe him as very peaceful, loving, great entertainer.”

Who was Takeoff?

Takeoff was an American rapper, best known as being part of the hip hop trio Migos. He was born in Lawrenceville in Georgia on 18 June 1994 and grew up alongside his uncle, Quavo, whom he described in an interview with Fader as “more [like] my brother”.

Alongside Quavo and Offset, Takeoff began rapping in 2008, with Migos releasing their first full length project, a mixtape called Juug Season, in 2011. The following year, they released another mixtape called No Label.

It was in 2013 that Migos initially rose to fame following the release of their single Versace which went viral. It was remixed by Drake and ended up making it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart at 99.

The trio released their debut studio album, Yung Rich Nation, in July 2015, which featured the likes of Chris Brown and Young Thug. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200, however it was the following year that the group would see their first number one single, with Bad and Boujee featuring Lil Uzi Vert.

Their second and third studio albums, Culture (2017) and Culture II (2018) both debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.

Migos recently released the music video for their song Messy on Monday (31 October).

Tributes for Takeoff

Family, fans, friends and fellow musicians have paid tribute to Takeoff on social media following the news of his death.