Troy Ave Suing Manhattan Venue for Allowing Guns Inside Concert

GRAMERCY, NY — Rapper Troy Ave announced Monday afternoon at a press conference in Union Square he is suing Irving Plaza, the Gramercy concert hall where he was shot in the leg on May 25 when gunfire erupted among a group of people backstage at a T.I. concert. Troy Ave, whose real name is Roland Collins, said he did not kill his bodyguard and friend, Ronald McPhatter, who died in the gunfire. Three others were injured.

The rapper's court complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday says security guards owned by the concert hall's parent company, Live Nation, let Collins and several other rappers into Irving Plaza through a VIP entrance without checking them for weapons.

"Had the defendants and/or their security personnel taken the most rudimentary of security measures in patting down individuals seeking entry into Irving Plaza and/or requiring such individuals to go through a metal detector, the subject incident and the resultant life changing injuries suffered by the plaintiff would have never occurred," the complaint says.

Collins' lawyers are arguing he shot the man who shot McPhatter after wrestling his weapon away from him. They won't name that man who shot McPhatter.

"He is the victim here. He did not bring a gun into this place. And we are seeking redress for the negligence," said Scott Leemon, one of Collins' lawyers, at the press conference.

"We are not discussing any of the facts," Leemon added, the New York Daily News reported.

Collins is facing murder charges for the death of McPhatter. The rapper is out on $500,000 bail and claims he didn't bring any weapons into the concert hall. He was shot in both legs and has appeared more than once in a wheelchair in court. He was seen Monday afternoon walking slowly and leaning on two people on both sides of his body.

Police said in June they recovered the gun used in the shooting of McPhatter, and that it was owned and registered by Collins. The surveillance footage released by the NYPD of the shooting shows a man resembling Collins shooting at an unknown target. Police found a gun that matched the one that shot McPhatter in the glove compartment of the car that drove Collins to the hospital.

Header Image: Pictured, from left: The shooting victim's older brother, Shanduke McPhatter; New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams; and the late Ronald "Edgar" McPhatter. Photo courtesy of the councilman's office