A security guard was shot and seriously injured outside Canadian rap star Drake’s mega-mansion in Toronto early Tuesday, police say.
The entrance to the sprawling property on Park Lane Circle in the ritzy Bridle Path neighbourhood was taped off by officers and there was a heavy police presence in the area throughout the morning.
The shooting happened shortly after 2 a.m. ET, Toronto police Insp. Paul Krawczyk told media at the scene.
Krawczyk couldn’t say whether Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was home at the time. But he said police are in contact with the rapper’s team and they are co-operating with the investigation.
“Information is very limited at this time,” Krawczyk said.
A police source previously told CBC News initial reports suggest it was a drive-by shooting. The security guard suffered a gunshot wound to the upper chest and was unconscious when officers arrived, the source said. He was taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery, according to the source.
Krawczyk would not confirm if the shooting was a drive-by, but did say a vehicle was involved.
Police are investigating the shooting of a security guard outside Drake’s mansion in Toronto’s Bridle Path neighbourhood but say it’s too early to know whether a feud with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar played a role.
He could not provide a description of the vehicle nor suspects, but said investigators have recovered security camera video that captured the incident. Police will be gathering more surveillance video throughout the day, he added.
Krawczyk said it is too early in the investigation to speculate on a motive for the shooting.
“But as we get information, we will share it with you,” he said.
Neighbour Richie Lai said he was about to fall asleep early Tuesday morning when he heard three or four gun shots. The shots were followed by the sound of a car driving by quickly, he said.
“I thought I was dreaming,” Lai said. “I didn’t know if I’d heard what I’d heard, and then, maybe five or ten minutes later, I heard [ambulance] sirens.”
Rappers face ‘highest threat level’ in industry: expert
Drake is currently embroiled in a number of high-profile feuds with other rappers and musical artists. The most notable is an ongoing dispute with the California rapper Kendrick Lamar, which hit a fever pitch this week as both released multiple tracks that levelled unsubstantiated allegations and insults at each other.
Krawczyk said he’s aware of the conflict.
The cover of Lamar’s latest diss track Not Like Us features a satellite image of Drake’s house with a number of red locator markers.
Drake responded to the cover art in an Instagram post announcing the release of his most recent track in the feud, The Heart Part 6. He appeared to address Lamar in the caption, writing: “Instead of posting my address, you have a lot to address.”
Images of the rapper’s palatial 50,000-square-foot home are frequently shared online, often by Drake himself.
Rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar have released dueling diss tracks in a feud that has escalated into serious allegations. Broadcaster Paul ‘Mastermind’ Parhar explains how this rap battle started.
Rappers face the “highest threat level” in the entertainment industry, said Kent Moyer, president and CEO of the World Protection Group, an international security firm.
Moyer was an expert witness for music executive Suge Knight in relation to the murder of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996. He said public knowledge that Drake owns the Bridle Path mansion is a safety concern.
“Whenever a celebrity has a property, you want to discretely remove all their private information and locations where they live from databases so that nobody would know that’s his property,” he said.
