MANHATTAN — Rapper Troy Ave was indicted Thursday on charges related to the deadly May 25 shooting at Irving Plaza, prosecutors said.
The charges are expected to be unsealed at his next court date on June 22. Troy Ave has already been charged in New York Criminal Court with attempted murder and weapons possession, but sources told DNAinfo the charges are expected to be elevated to murder.
Troy Ave, whose real name is Roland Collins, was arrested the day after the shooting at a T.I. concert at the Union Square concert hall where his bodyguard Ronald McPhatter, 33, and and three other people, including Collins, were injured.
Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from a feud between rival entourages, with rumors swirling about an alleged beef between Collins and rapper Maino.
Security footage released by police showed Collins firing one shot in the crowded venue as he came limping out of a second-floor VIP area.
According to police, Collins fired the semiautomatic handgun several times in the green room, including the shot that pierced his own leg, and then fired more shots in a second-floor balcony area.
Investigators believe that the rapper's shots also accidentally hit McPhatter, who was fatally shot in the stomach, sources said.
Collins managed to get himself to NYU Langone Medical Center, but police found the weapon, a Kel-Tec PF-9 semiautomatic pistol, in a secret compartment in the car that was used to drive him there, sources said.
Collins and his lawyers have disputed the police narrative of the shooting. In a freestyle verse that Collins apparently recorded in a phone call from Rikers Island, the rapper claimed to set the record straight.
He said a gunman tried to "assassinate" him, but he managed to take “the gun from him and turned the tables ‘round like a G."
He also claimed to be innocent “unless you're charging me with being real from the very beginning.”
