Takeoff murder: Houston police request eyewitnesses to step forward

The murder of Takeoff, the 28-year-old former member of rap trio Migos, has sent shockwaves around the hip-hop world. The Houston police have vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, and have requested eyewitnesses of the incident to come forward. The city police chief, Troy Finner, referred to Takeoff as a “peaceful” man.

He further added, “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’d want somebody to step up, so please step up. Get the information to us so we can bring some closure to this family who’s hurting right now.”

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Takeoff was murdered at 810 Billiards & Bowling Houston when a dispute arose over a dice game. His uncle and another member of Migos, Quavo, was present with him, but managed to escape unharmed.

A call was made to 911 at around 2:34 AM on November 1. When police reached the bowling alley, they found the rapper dead on the third floor. According to the medical examiner from Harris County later concluded that he had died from “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm.”

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Besides Takeoff, two other individuals, a man and a woman aged 23 and 24 respectively, were injured in the firing. Homicide division’s Sgt. Michael Arrington said regarding their condition, “They’re both going to be OK.”

Arrington said, “A lot of people that were there fled the scene and did not stick around to give a statement”, adding, “All we can hope is you all will reach out and give us evidence to solve the death of Takeoff.”

According employees of the bowling alley, the violence erupted right after a party “and it led to an argument where the shooting took place from the disagreement”. 

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Takeoff’s murder harks back to the drive-by killings of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, who were both gunned down a year apart in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, respectively. Both murders remain officially unsolved to this day.