Go back to previous topic
Forum nameOkay Artist Archives
Topic subjectnews...
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=19&topic_id=45037&mesg_id=45091
45091, news...
Posted by Pkjr703, Thu Apr-13-06 10:13 AM
DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- A man turned himself over to police Wednesday for questioning in the death of rapper Proof during a nightclub shootout, authorities said.

Police also said Wednesday it was Proof who fired the first bullet in the gunfire that ended his life a day earlier.

The bullet hit Keith Bender in the head, critically injuring him, at the CCC, a nightclub in a strip of businesses along Eight Mile Road. The road was made famous in the 2002 film starring Proof's close friend, rap superstar Eminem.

Mario Etheridge, 28, Bender's cousin and a bouncer at the club, met with police Wednesday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"He came in because the Detroit Police Department asked him to," Etheridge's attorney, Randall Upshaw, told television station WXYZ. "Does that sound like a murderer?"

Upshaw would not say whether his client shot Proof but said whoever did acted in self-defense.

Investigators believe Proof was shot after he pistol-whipped and shot Bender following a fight at the club around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday -- more than two hours after the nightclub was required to close for the night.

"The understanding of every witness we've spoken to is that Proof pulled out a weapon," Upshaw said. "Proof shot Keith in the face and Keith was unarmed."

If Proof was shot by someone trying to protect himself or another, the shooter will not be charged, police Sgt. Eren Stephens said.

Proof, 32, whose real name was Deshaun Holton, was taken to a nearby outpatient treatment center by private car, where he was pronounced dead. He was shot three times in the head and chest, according to the Wayne County medical examiner's office.

Bender was taken by a private car to St. John Hospital, where he remained in critical condition early Thursday, spokeswoman Wende Berry said.

Proof was a member of the rap group D12 and was the best man in Eminem's January wedding. Seldom was Eminem seen in public without him.