Rapper Finese 2Tymes who performed at Little Rock club on night 25 people were shot is jailed in Alabama on charges of aggravated assault with a gun following unrelated incident
- Finese 2Tymes, aka Ricky Hampton, 25, was on stage early Saturday at the Power Ultra Lounge
- He and another unnamed man were arrested Sunday on outstanding charges of aggravated assault with a gun
- Authorities said several firearms were recovered during the arrest
- The firearms will be sent to a crime lab in Arkansas to determine whether they match shell casings found at the scene of the shooting
- Twenty-five people were shot when gunfire erupted at the Arkansas nightclub
- In total, 28 were injured but all are expected to survive the shooting
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Rapper Finese 2Tymes, aka Ricky Hampton (pictured), has been arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. He was on stage at the Power Ultra Lounge in Arkansas in the early hours of Saturday morning when the shooting began
A rapper whose concert in Little Rock was the site of a shooting that left 28 people injured has been arrested on unrelated assault charges.
Ricky Hampton, also known as Finese 2Tymes, remained jailed without bond in Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday morning.
He was arrested early Sunday on outstanding charges of aggravated assault with a gun out of Forrest City in eastern Arkansas, the US Marshals Service said.
Authorities said several firearms were recovered during the arrest.
A second man also was taken into custody, and two handguns and an assault rifle were seized from the Mercedes in which the two men were riding, said Cliff LaBarge with the US Marshals Service in Alabama.
The firearms will be sent to a crime lab in Arkansas to determine whether they match shell casings found at the scene of the shooting early Saturday at the Power Ultra Lounge, according to Little Rock Police Lt Steven McClanahan.
Hampton had outstanding charges of aggravated assault with a gun. A second man also was taken into custody, and two handguns and an assault rifle were seized from the Mercedes in which the two men were riding,
A message posted on the rapper's Facebook page Saturday offered thoughts and prayers for those injured
McClanahan described the 25-year-old Hampton as a 'person of interest' and said the rapper will be extradited to Arkansas so that police can interview him. Hampton hails from Memphis, Tennessee.
McClanahan added that no arrests have been made in the shooting in which 25 people between the ages of 16 and 35 suffered gunshot wounds, and three others were hurt afterward.
He said police did not recover any weapons at the scene of the shooting, which authorities believe may have been gang-related.
'We are definitely looking at that possibility,' McClanahan said. 'We know that gang members were present inside.'Share
Prison records from the Tennessee Department of Corrections show a Ricky Hampton with the same date of birth, hometown and a similar appearance was released from prison in August 2016 after serving six years for two counts of aggravated robbery.
Material advertising the concert by Finese 2Tymes showed a man pointing a gun at a camera, drawing a rebuke from Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola.
'The investigation into this crime continues in earnest, but it is clear that this was not an act of terrorism and does not appear to be a premeditated mass shooting,' Stodola said in his weekly Monday Morning with the Mayor newsletter.
'Indications are that this was a terrible local tragedy stemming from a dispute between a small subset of individuals suspected to be involved in gang activity that turned violent because of the presence of existing rivalries and weapons.'
According to prison records, Hampton (pictured) was allegedly released from prison in August 2016 after serving six years for two counts of aggravated robbery
The firearms recovered at the scene of the arrest be sent to a crime lab in Arkansas to determine whether they match shell casings found at the scene of the shooting early (Pictured, Hampton)
Material advertising the concert by Finese 2Tymes showed a man pointing a gun at a camera (pictured), drawing a rebuke from Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola
A message posted on the rapper's Facebook page Saturday offered thoughts and prayers for those injured: 'THE VIOLENCE IS NOT FOR THE CLUB PEOPLE. WE ALL COME WITH 1 MOTIVE AT THE END OF THE DAY, AND THATS TO HAVE FUN.'
The rapper's Facebook page posted late Sunday a hashtag followed by 'FREE2TYMES'.
A woman who answered a phone number listed on Finese 2Tymes's Instagram account for booking said the rapper didn't consider canceling the Birmingham show, despite the shooting, because he wasn't responsible for what happened. The woman didn't give her name before hanging up.
The volley of gunfire inside the Power Ultra Lounge came so fast that investigators believe multiple people had to have been involved. Police Chief Kenton Buckner credited quick work by first responders for there being no fatalities.
Little Rock Mayor Stodola, left, and a resident who calls himself simply 'Brother Larry' hold hands during a prayer following a news conference by an anti-violence group in front of a police station in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday
Little Rock's police chief says investigators believe the shooting at the nightclub (pictured on Saturday) may be gang-related
A photo taken from the sidewalk outside the Pulse Ultra Lounge, with monitors inside the nightclub still showing the promotional poster for the Finese 2Tymes concert
An eviction notice is posted on a door to the lounge on Saturday, stating that the club must move out of the property within three days 'due to your failure to maintain the premises in a safe condition'
City officials said they would move Monday to shut down the club under a 'criminal abatement' program.
State regulators suspended the club's liquor license Saturday, and a representative for the landlord's office later posted an eviction notice on a door to the club.
The notice stated that the club must move out of the property within three days 'due to your failure to maintain the premises in a safe condition'.
About 30 people attended a news conference Sunday with Arkansas Stop the Violence, which is seeking more resources to fight poverty and crime in the southern half of the city. The event was held in front of a police station near where a boy was shot in a drive-by last week.
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