Rapper Beanie Sigel Shot
Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel has been shot after an apparent fight outside a Jersey Shore home, police tell NBC10. His attorney believes the rapper was not the intended target.
The shooting happened around 9:20 a.m. Friday outside Sigel’s home along the 800 block of Spruce Avenue in Pleasantville, New Jersey, police said.
Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, was hit in the back, his attorney Fortunato Perri, Jr. told NBC10. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and is currently in surgery. Police originally believed Sigel was shot in the stomach.
“The whole thing is a tragedy,” a cousin of Sigel’s wife said. She refused to give her name. “It’s just very sad and I just ask that everybody keep our family in prayer and that he pulls through.”
Another victim, a man, was injured in the altercation, but was not shot, police said. He is being questioned by detectives.
Perri, Jr. said Sigel had just returned home from dropping his kids off at school when he came upon the fight near his house. The attorney said it appears Sigel was an unintended victim.
The 40-year-old rapper was released from federal prison in August after serving a two-year sentence for tax evasion. The Internal Revenue Service said he owed more than $728,000 in back taxes.
He was moved to a halfway house in Philadelphia after his release and then was transitioned into home monitoring. His probation ends on Saturday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The rapper was wearing a monitoring bracelet on his ankle at the time of the shooting, police said.
In 2013, Sigel was also sentenced to six to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to a drug possession charge in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Sigel was formerly signed to Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records before the two rappers broke ties following a public fight. He had three albums that reached the top five on the Billboard charts.
He had a concert dubbed “Beanie Sigel: The Return” scheduled for Dec. 18 at the Theater of the Living Arts on South Street.
This isn’t the first time Sigel was shot. He was hit in the arm during a 2006 shooting in Philadelphia.
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