Rick Ross a target in drive-by shooting in Fort Lauderdale
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sun-sentinel.com/fl-rick-ross-in-broward-20130128,0,3588469,full.storyRick Ross has spent years cultivating a thuggish persona deserving of the now-prophetic nickname "Teflon Don." But he is probably just as surprised as anyone to have joined the phrase "drive-by shooting" and "Las Olas Boulevard" in the same sentence on Monday morning.
If the chart-topping rapper was looking for a posh lair in which to hide from the glare of the Miami rap scene, he probably thought he'd found it on a remote spit of property on Fort Lauderdale's luxurious Seven Isles.
Ross was headed in the direction of that home at about 5 a.m. Monday when, according to Fort Lauderdale police, his silver 2011 Rolls-Royce was targeted by a barrage of bullets near the corner of Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast 15th Avenue. None of the bullets found its mark, but Ross' car ended up running into a two-story apartment building behind the iconic Floridian restaurant. The suspects remain at large, police said.
Ross and a female companion, Shateria L. Moragne-el, 28, a fashion stylist and designer, of Davie, were uninjured, as was the apartment tenant, Beth Balk, a Floridian waitress.
"I've never seen anything like this happen," Balk said. "It's quiet on Las Olas, certainly on a Sunday night."
A few hours earlier, Ross celebrated his 37th birthday with a performance at Liv nightclub at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach. No incident was reported there, according to a hotel spokeswoman.
One of the bullets appeared to have entered a front window of the Floridian, a 24-hour diner where the city's politicians often drop in. They include Mayor John P. "Jack" Seiler, who was not dining there Monday morning.
"It's absolutely one of the most-unexpected activities to happen on Las Olas and hopefully it will be for the next 10 years," Seiler said of the event that briefly shut down the heart of the city's picturesque byway. "That's my goal, that we don't see something like this happen again. I don't ever want to hear of a shooting anywhere in the city."
Calling Fort Lauderdale "a wonderful place to be," he said, "there will probably be more news stories today about our perfect weather than this shooting. I suspect nobody is going to change their plans or that this will impact tourism one bit."
Seiler said he did not previously know who Ross was and was unfamiliar with his music.
"I had to ask around and learn about how big he is in the industry," Seiler said.
If the multimillion-dollar waterfront mansion adorned with a Rolls-Royce and a yacht named "City of Miami" is a rap-video cliché, Ross made sure the $4.7 million home was far off the hip-hop grid, on a bucolic cul-de-sac at the end of a maze of family-friendly streets, where the annual Halloween trick-or-treating begins with a send-off by a high-school marching band.
"That doesn't surprise me. That's Rick," said Derrick Baker, a Ross confidante and program director at the rap-oriented radio station WEDR, also know as 99 Jamz. "Once he steps away from the music, he's a family guy. Real chill."
If there is a theme that evolves from conversations with Broward County residents who have crossed paths with Ross, who also owns a $1 million home in Davie, it is that he's not the menacing black-leather misogynist of such videos as Wale's "Bag of Money."
"There are no complaints about him as a neighbor," said a Seven Isles neighbor who did not want to be identified. "He was friendly, always waved and slowed down for the kids."
The neighbor said she would see Ross frequently walking in the morning with a woman, getting exercise. The Seven Isles home is listed under his mother's name.
Baker said he has been friends with Ross, working on the rapper's education and charity projects, since 2005. Ross has been a frequent guest at the station's Hollywood studios, and did a half-hour on the air on Friday. Baker said he was "upbeat, very happy and excited" about his birthday and the imminent release of his sixth album, "Mastermind."
It is at that intersection of commerce and street cred that bad blood has been spilled between Ross and his rivals, most prominently 50 Cent. The rapper-actor, born Curtis Jackson, has made no secret of his belief that the urban-thug image of the Carol City-raised Rick Ross, born William Roberts, is manufactured.
"Hahaha fat boy hit the building?" 50 Cent wrote on his Twitter account on Monday. "Lol it looks staged to me. No hole's in da car."
WEDR's Baker said record sales may be at the root of 50 Cent's animosity, calling it "an on-wax feud," and laughed at the suggestion that Ross would stage a shooting to boost his reputation.
"Could this be an elaborate way to sell albums? I don't think Rick would go down that route, especially with someone else in the car.," Baker said. "And you don't mess up a nice Rolls like that."
Baker said he had not been able to reach Ross on Monday.
Ross has a Florida arrest history for mostly misdemeanor offenses that include brawling in 2004 and carrying a concealed weapon and marijuana possession in 2008. Florida Department of Law Enforcement online records show he pleaded no contest in those cases and adjudication was withheld.
Before those arrests, Ross was a lawman, which does not help his reputation in the rap industry.
From age 19 until he was 21, he worked as a state corrections officer at the South Florida Reception Center before leaving in June 1997, the Florida Department of Corrections confirmed Monday.
An attorney who has previously represented Ross, Allan Zamren, would not comment.
In 2011, Ross suffered a seizure while traveling on a Delta Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis. (Baker said the cause was "exhaustion.") In March 2012, a man's body was found in the yard of a Miami Gardens home that Ross owns, though police said Ross was not a suspect.
Ross has been one of the formative figures in the development of the Miami rap sound since his 2006 album on Slip-N-Slide Records, "Port of Miami," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
Ross has been equally influential as a producer, and his Maybach Music Group label has a roster of acts that frequently sprinkle the Billboard charts, including Meek Mill, Wale and Omarion.
Ross will soon appear on Season 2 of the Starz hit "Magic City," the Mitch Glazer-scripted drama filmed in Miami. Ross is apparently a fan of the show, and an impromptu set visit resulted in Glazer writing Ross into the show in the role of Butterball, the proprietor of an illegal Cuban-American gambling house.
Sean Gilbert, of Fort Lauderdale, is a cameraman on the show and recalls Ross showing up for a daylong shoot in a rough Miami neighborhood without an entourage. Ross was "very low-key and accessible," Gilbert said.
Jeff John, owner of Revolution Live nightclub in Fort Lauderdale's Himmarshee District, has hosted Ross several times, including a sold-out show six months ago for Wale and Meek Mill. Ross got onstage unannounced to do four songs, John said. As far as he knows, Ross didn't get paid.
"He was totally cool, a real nice guy, sitting in the back chilling," John said. -
miamiherald.com/2013/01/28/3204474/rolls-royce-crashes-into-las-olas.htmlRoss, whose real name is William L. Roberts II, named himself after former drug trafficker “Freeway Ricky Ross,” who has sued the rapper over the use of his name.
Monday afternoon, Freeway Ricky Ross tweeted this:
“I don’t wish this upon no man. Reality is when u claim 2 live that life & ppl know that you are faking. They are going 2 test u. reality.”[/quote] -
inb4 the suspects get caught but ross didnt snitch..
lol just like TI... -
SheerExcellence wrote: »south4life wrote: »infamous114 wrote: »Lol bruh it has nothing to do with album titles...
He made himself out like he was Freeway Ricky Ross, then he acting like a Mafia ? , the album titles does have something to do with this as well, he tried to make himself look like he is untouchable and they just showed him that he can get touched when ever they want to.
but why aint cats trying to ? al pacino or robert deniro or james gandolfini?
this is a dumb post. theyre actors. they dont try to convince the public that thats who they're in real life. when has ross said that hes just portraying an image?
i feel you bruh
im just saying as a black man if ima go at another dude on some i wish he was dead type ? . he gotta do something to my fam my crew or some ? . not on no music ? . there too many things messed up in this world from zimmerman to politics to education to whatever, for me to be tripping offa a black man making money on some music ? .
does ross have a fake persona? of course he do. we all know that he does. so he aint fooling no one, but i dont wish he dead. thats all im saying
but again, i dont rep that life so he not offending me, but i can see how if u bout that life then u take it as an insult. but even if, id be happier if the gangsters and ? went at the record companies promoting it, like if the real rick ross went at def jam directly or if the g.d's was like we not gonna stand for none of u companies/record labels trying to use fake rappers to promote the lives that we lead.
i just wish they aint go after the rappers. cause the rapper just gonna do what he gotta do to make money. if rapping about skittles and bubble yum made u tons of money then thats what rick ross and drake and wayne and kanye and jay -z and whoever would be rapping about tomorrow. if u really wanna solve the problem killing ross wont stop ? , we already done seen our rappers get killed on some ? . lets go after the record labels and tell them stop promoting it. or go after ur fam and smack ur brother up like why u playing this ? ?
but if u ? ross, there gonna be another ross tomorrow.
thats all fam. peace.
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Ross seems like a stand up dude when the camera is off and he's not on the mic.
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Ross and a female companion, Shateria L. Moragne-el, 28, a fashion stylist and designer, of Davie, were uninjured, as was the apartment tenant, Beth Balk, a Floridian waitress.
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How did you get away with shooting Rick Ross? I thought he had a chopper in the car. I guess SOMEBODY lied
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lmao at anyone caring about the real Rick Ross
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Ross had another seizure, this is just a cover up.
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It was the people from maybach yo...he was pushin a rolls
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They coming for that boy neck.
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It's safe to say the real Norieaga don't owe this ? no favors.
This ? crashed into an apartment building...into somebody living room.... some lil kid thought his fat ass was the black kool aid man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iE4uEsaBF0 -
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SheerExcellence wrote: »south4life wrote: »infamous114 wrote: »Lol bruh it has nothing to do with album titles...
He made himself out like he was Freeway Ricky Ross, then he acting like a Mafia ? , the album titles does have something to do with this as well, he tried to make himself look like he is untouchable and they just showed him that he can get touched when ever they want to.
but why aint cats trying to ? al pacino or robert deniro or james gandolfini?
smh is this a real question? cause they are ? actors that is there job to portray the characters in film -
SheerExcellence wrote: »south4life wrote: »infamous114 wrote: »Lol bruh it has nothing to do with album titles...
He made himself out like he was Freeway Ricky Ross, then he acting like a Mafia ? , the album titles does have something to do with this as well, he tried to make himself look like he is untouchable and they just showed him that he can get touched when ever they want to.
but why aint cats trying to ? al pacino or robert deniro or james gandolfini?
smh is this a real question? cause they are ? actors that is there job to portray the characters in film
...oh the irony -
Respect the shooter.
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So Rick Ross crashes a Rolls Royce to stage a shooting?
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SheerExcellence wrote: »south4life wrote: »infamous114 wrote: »Lol bruh it has nothing to do with album titles...
He made himself out like he was Freeway Ricky Ross, then he acting like a Mafia ? , the album titles does have something to do with this as well, he tried to make himself look like he is untouchable and they just showed him that he can get touched when ever they want to.
but why aint cats trying to ? al pacino or robert deniro or james gandolfini?
They are professional actors, they just acting in movies, Al Pacino in real life is a quiet dude that likes poetry, the complete opposite of his characters.
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Cant believe dude asked that question smh
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Even if this was staged (which i highly doubt it was), it still wouldn't beat Cam'ron...lulz
Getting carjacked and before they shoot him in both arms, they throw the Roc sign? nothing will top that. NOTHING. -
stringer bell wrote: »
this dude be funny as hell with nearly every ross spoof ive seen him do
"where was wale to take the bullet sniff sniff"
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icecoldstew wrote: »Cant believe dude asked that question smh
Lmao and then another dude said "oh the irony." I think some of these posters are really crazy delusional -
awwwwwwwwwww wrote: »Respect the shooter.
Even though the ? missed that badly... -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2hpSdbICNQ
Lol @ the white lady calling him big red, and that ? wearing some house shoes with a big ass crown lol. The way white people describe ? is hilarious. Smash those two black reporters though -
now ross found a new topic , to talk about in his songs . he cheated death once again .