Gucci Mane Artist Foogiano's Crew Eyed Over South Carolina Club Shooting

Rapper Foogiano’s crew is being eyed in the shooting at a South Carolina club Sunday that left two dead and 8 injured — including a young mom who was “the definition of an innocent bystander,” according to authorities.

The Gucci Mane protégé — real name Kwame Brown — was celebrating his 27th birthday on July 4th with an appearance at a packed Greenville club when gunfire erupted just before 2 a.m. Sunday, officials say.

Video footage suggests that the violence was sparked by different groups throwing gang signs — and people involved with the performer were involved, Sheriff Hobart Lewis told Greenville News.

Investigators are “hearing about five different stories,” Lewis said — telling the paper that Foogiano himself was not believed to be responsible for the violence in the Lavish Lounge.

Several people were being questioned late Sunday in connection with the shooting, Lewis said. It was not clear if the rapper was among them.

Social media lit up with club-goers claiming the gunfire erupted after someone tried to steal a chain from Foogiano, with the rapper hours earlier filmed getting a pricey piece as a birthday gift.

“Was the chain worth taking two people’s lives?” one person wrote on the rapper’s Instagram which was soon flooded with angry messages.

The two confirmed dead included 51-year-old club security guard Clarence Sterling Johnson, who was armed but did not fire his weapon as he was hit near the front entrance, Lewis said.

Victim and mother-of-two Mykala Bell, 23, died after 3 a.m. after being taken to a local hospital with a gunshot wound, Lewis told Fox Carolina.

“She was absolutely an innocent victim,” the sheriff said. “Truly the definition of an innocent bystander.”

A woman saying she was her cousin wrote in an Instagram tribute that she was “hit in the head by a stray bullet while @foogiano was performing front row claiming someone tried to ‘SNATCH HIS CHAIN.'”

At least two of eight people also injured remained in critical condition Sunday, officials told the Greenville News.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show a man onstage aiming a weapon at the crowd and firing several times. Other footage appeared to show a member of the audience approaching the performers just before the gunfire started.

“This s–t about GANG S–T. You can see ol buddy in the crowd throw up his red flag in they face & buddy on stages with @FOOGIANO threw up his black flag telling buddy put his red flag down,” one person wrote on Twitter.

A rep for the rapper told the Associated Press that he was safe and not injured in the shooting.

Investigators are also probing whether the club had applied for special permission to hold the packed event despite Gov. Henry McMaster’s orders banning large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We don’t know if they filed an appeal to do that or not,” Lewis said.

“I do know there was a very, very, very large crowd that probably well exceeded that number with very little space for social distancing,” he said.

“I promise you they weren’t six feet apart,” he said. “It’s certainly not the best situation to stop the spread of this virus, for sure.”

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