Busta Rhymes' security guard was fatally shot in Brooklyn Saturday night as the rapper and several A-list pals gathered to make a music video.
Israel Ramirez, 29, a longtime member of Rhymes' entourage, was shot once in the chest at 1:30 a.m. outside the industrial warehouse where the shoot was taking place. Filming of the video had already begun on a ninth-floor soundstage when **** erupted outside the Greenpoint building, said New York Police Sergeant Kevin Farrell.
According to police, more than a dozen shots were fired into the crowd of nearly 500 on-set extras. Rhymes was not hurt in the incident, nor were any of the artists standing by to make cameos in the video: Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Missy Elliott and Lloyd Banks.
No arrests have been made in the ****. Police did seize a car that was damaged in the gunfire and on Sunday afternoon located a semiautomatic pistol in an adjacent lot that may have been used in the incident.
NYPD have speculated that Ramirez's death was the result of an earlier dispute between members of the video crew and a group of unidentified men who were trying to interfere with the filming.
According to the New York Times, a 51-year-old crew member named "K" said the altercation began when the men ignored repeated requests to keep quiet.
As for the celebrities, said K, "They just disappeared."
Ramirez, who has worked for Rhymes since the mid-90s, was immediately taken to Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, where he pronounced ****.
Filming on the video, a remix of Rhymes' latest single, "Touch It," has been indefinitely postponed.
