NEW YORK — Drill rapper Dougie B was released early Friday after spending more than 12 hours in custody and will not face charges in connection with a shooting outside a Bronx courthouse, the New York Daily News has learned.
A source close to the rapper said it appeared Dougie B — who earlier this week was filming a music video with Cardi B in the Bronx — was actually fleeing a gunman, who fired one shot right before lunch Thursday at the bustling Bronx Supreme Court.
No arrests have been made, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig confirmed to the Daily News.
The chaotic scene unfolded on 161st Street around 1:00 p.m., just as Dougie B, born Arion Howard, and another rising drill star, C Blu, were leaving separate court appearances at nearby buildings on the thoroughfare packed with lawyers, court officers and everyday Bronx residents.
Police were investigating whether either of the rappers may were the intended targets.
“We have to see what the motive was. We know that a drill rapper was in the courthouse, C Blu, for a previous incident with the police. He was in the courthouse so we are looking at all angles right now. It’s still under investigation and no one’s been charged,” Essig told the Daily News on Friday.
When asked if Howard was the target, Essig said it was unclear.
Meanwhile, the source close to the rapper provided new details about the lead-up to the shooting.
The “Kill Em With Kindness” rapper was walking out of the Bronx Supreme Court building around lunchtime when kids recognized him and asked to take photos, the source said.
As Howard approached the youngsters, they started backing up and someone pulled a gun, the source said. That’s when the rapper and his friends began running for their lives before a gunshot went off, according to the source. A Daily News reporter saw a man wearing black point a gun into the air and pull the trigger.
Howard was wearing red pants and a multicolored hoodie.
Court officers chased the sprinting 21-year-old rapper and his three buddies and tackled the quartet to the ground outside their gray car, with two court officers pointing guns directly at the young men.
Howard, his friends and two others were taken into custody and questioned into the night at the 44th Precinct stationhouse. All were released without charges, Howard’s attorney Dawn Florio said.
“They had nothing on him. They had basically arrested everybody who was running. Nobody in his group had a gun or did anything wrong,” Florio said. Police executed a search warrant on the car used by Howard and his friends but came up empty-handed, Florio said.
Howard — who was at the courthouse for a 2:15 p.m. appearance on drug charges — was clearly frustrated as he sat on the pavement with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“Y’all keep doing this to me, bro,” the rapper yelled at an officer, according to video taken by the Daily News.
“That’s Dougie B!” one onlooker shouted.
The incident came right after an unrelated hearing in Family Court regarding a January police shooting involving C Blu, whose real name is Camrin Williams. City lawyers are still deliberating whether to charge Williams, 16, as a juvenile for the incident that outraged Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
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