A fatal shooting outside a crowded South Florida beachfront hotel. Another on a busy Miami Beach street. A third with no serious injuries on a major highway. All involved hip-hop performers or guests of the Rolling Loud Festival, a three-day spectacular that concluded Sunday at the Miami Dolphins stadium. But beyond that surface connection, police agencies are comparing notes to determine whether they are tied together or otherwise unrelated acts of violence. “It is all something we are investigating, but it is too early to tell,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said Monday. No one has been arrested. Rolling Loud organizers did not return calls and emails seeking comment. The festival’s Twitter account posted a message Monday reading, “IF YOU DIDN’T ENJOY ROLLING LOUD DESPITE THE HICCUPS, STAY HOME NEXT YEAR … THIS IS HIP-HOP.” The account was later suspended. In the most notable shooting tied to the festival, gunmen in a passing Cadillac Escalade opened fire on rapper NBA YoungBoy as he and his 10-member entourage exited Trump International Beach Resort Miami in Sunny Isles Beach on Sunday afternoon. Those shots wounded the rapper’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Kaylyn Marie Long, and grazed a 5-year-old bystander. Some members of YoungBoy’s party, who were legally armed, returned fire, Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said. One of those bullets fatally struck a 43-year-old bystander, Mohamad Jradi, as he sat in his van across the street. No members of YoungBoy’s party will be charged as they fired in self-defense, Zabaleta said. Four men who were later detained at the stadium as possible suspects were not connected to the shooting and were released, he said. There did not appear to be any connection to a shooting in nearby Aventura that occurred about a half-hour earlier, Zabaleta said. YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, was on Sunday’s lineup of performers. Tayna Ocampo, a guest at the hotel who had come to the festival with her family from Louisiana to celebrate her daughter’s college graduation, said she enjoyed the festival, but the surrounding violence left her “shocked.” However, she understands that violence is “part of the culture” glorified by younger rappers. “These new rap stars, or whatever, that’s their thing,” she said. The attack on YoungBoy occurred about 36 hours after Chicago-based rapper AAB Hellabandz, 24, was fatally shot outside the Cameo nightclub on a crowded Miami Beach street. A second person was hospitalized. Security video released by Miami Beach police on Monday showed people running or ducking behind parked cars as vehicles sped away in the moments after Saturday’s shooting. Amid the chaos, the man police identified as the suspect jogged away. No arrests have been made, and AAB Hellabandz, whose real name was Ameer Golston, was not on the list of performers at the festival. Rodriguez said Golston was wanted in Atlanta for attempted murder and armed robbery. He said detectives are trying to determine if there are any ties to the Atlanta case, the NBA YoungBoy shooting or an incident Friday morning involving two party buses hired by a festival performer that was fired upon. No one was seriously injured when a car passing them on Interstate 95 opened fire. Meanwhile, rapper Kodak Black appeared Monday in federal court after being arrested Saturday at the festival on a weapons charge. Black slumped in his chair and rocked slowly back and forth as he surveyed the courtroom. Shackled and wearing a jail-issued tan jumpsuit and slippers, his only words were the slight mumble of his name. Black’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, said the rapper mistakenly failed to indicate that he’s currently under indictment while filling out the form before purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. // Associated Press writers David Fischer, Freida Frisaro, Ellis Rua and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.<doc-sep>2:40 PM PT -- A spokesperson for Young Thug tells us he "did not get shot at ... somebody took a shot at the car DJ Keyz was in. He is fine. It was a minor injury and not serious. Young Thug was long gone and not involved." Young Thug's car and 2 party buses filled with his team were targeted in a hail of bullets early Friday morning in Miami, according to multiple witnesses ... and 3 people were injured. Witnesses tell TMZ ... Thug was riding in a Ferrari alongside the 2 buses on I-95 around 6 AM when someone pulled up next to them and opened fire. Law enforcement sources say 2 men and a woman who were on the buses were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. Young Thug was not hit. While the witnesses say the rapper was on the scene when the bullets flew ... sources close to him say he had left the party an hour earlier. Play video content TMZ.com It appears the whole group was on the way to the Miami Beach Hotel before the shooting went down. Young Thug had performed at LIV Nightclub Thursday night. He's scheduled to perform again Saturday at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami. Cops are investigating the shooting. This is the second time this week a famous rapper's been targeted. As we first reported ... Offset escaped a shooting Wednesday night in Atlanta.<doc-sep>We're in an unfortunate era where people can't even go to a festival and enjoy music without fear of being harmed. Last night, reports surfaced that there was an active shooter at Rolling Loud Miami where artists like Migos, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, and more are set to perform. Social media erupted in conversation about the potential shooter that was on the festival grounds. With day two of Rolling Loud already started, the co-founder of the festival dispelled reports and assured fans that it was a false alarm. Tariq Cherif issued a statement earlier today about the reports of a shooter at Rolling Loud last night. Cherif explained that it was simply a rumor that was stirred up among a large group of festival goers that eventually spread across the internet. "Shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday night, there was a disturbance that led a large group of fans to believe there was an active shooter within the festival grounds," he wrote. “The commotion resulted in these fans running out of the venue, some of whom were injured and/or scared in the process. Security and public authorities immediately sprung into action, established it was a false alarm and there was not an active shooter in the festival, and diffused the situation.” Tariq assured that there are hundreds of police officers and security guards to make sure festival-goers are safe. Rolling Loud continues today with performances from Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, and more.<doc-sep>
Friday was the beginning of Miami's three-day hip hop festival Rolling Loud and on the first day it was the center of controversy following reports of a shooting. Around 10:00 p.m., attendees of the festival began writing on social media that there was an active shooter at the event. Video footage began to emerge showing guests running towards exits by the hundreds. A little over an hour later, Rolling Loud sent out an official statement on their Twitter account, assuring the public that there were no shots fired, nor was there a gunman on the premises. "There was a false alarm of an incident on site that caused people to panic," they wrote. "The situation has been confirm by police as a false alarm. The show is proceeding as planned with slight delays. Thank you for your patience…Anyone who ran out of the venue who still has their wristband on can re enter through security at the festival gates." Sources have stated that there was a minor physical altercation between guests, but there were no firearms involved. Jeff Weinsier, a WPLG-TV ABC Miami Fort Lauderdale reporter, tweeted, "PER THE COMMANDER ON THE SCENE NO ONE SHOT – NO ACTIVE SHOOTERS AGAIN - THE COMMANDER CAME ON THE RADIO ASKING ALL UNITS TO CALM DOWN – NO ONE SHOT – NO ACTRIVE SHOOTER – JUST GET THE AREA CLEARED." Lil Yachty, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage, Young Thug, City Girls, Juice WRLD, Young M.A, J.I.D., Lil Baby, Kodak Black, Gucci Mane, Cardi B, YG, Rick Ross, Rich The Kid, Beast Coast, Kevin Gates, DMX, Lil Uzi Vert, Denzel Curry, Ski Mask The Slump God, Tyga, Freddie Gibbs, Blueface, and Wiz Khalifa are just a few of the artists scheduled to appear at the festival.