Rapper Plies and his record label Big Gates Records are being sued by the victims of a 2006 nightclub shooting.
During the July 2, 2006 concert in Gainesville, Florida, which featured Plies and fellow southern rapper Lil Boosie, a confrontation occurred between members of Plies’ camp and club promoters over stage time.
The rapper’s microphone was cut-off mid-performance at the now defunct Club 238 when his set ran longer than expected. That’s when his brother Big Gates, whose real name is Ronell Lawrence Lavatte, and Tory Denard Carnegie, allegedly fired several rounds of bullets into the packed nightclub, striking five people.
Both Lavatte and Carnegie were charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, and Plies was charged with illegal possession of concealed weapons. Plies pleaded no contest and received probation for his role in the incident, and Lavatte served three years in prison.
The victims claim that since 2006, Plies has used the shooting to boost his street credibility and record sales, and they are seeking the profits he has accumulated from their suffering. They’ve even gone so far as to say Plies and his associates intended on engaging in criminal conduct for the sole purpose of bringing notoriety. When they initially filed the civil suit in 2008, they were only suing Plies, but they recently amended the court documents on Wednesday (March 3) to include his record label.
Two of the five victims held a press conference Wednesday morning to talk about how the shooting has completely thrown their lives off course. Dorian Johnson, who was grazed in the face by a bullet and suffers with blurred vision, said that she wasn’t able to go out in public for a long time following the incident.
Edwin Faircloth, the other victim, said that the shooting injured him in the hip, and as a result he lost the paint and body shop he owned. “I was just destroyed,” he said.
The other three victims are Billy Dee Williams, Steve Ruben Jean-Jacques, and Michael Daymon.
According to AllHipHop, Plies’ attorney has dismissed the charges, and stated that the victims’ attorneys amended the lawsuit to gain publicity after the civil suit stalled in Alachua County Circuit Court.