Two fans of DMX were shot on Wednesday, April 14, during a candlelight vigil for the recently departed rapper.
The memorial was held at the 4th Street playground in Mt. Vernon and was supposed to be peaceful. However, gunfire in two separate places rang out and disrupted the crowd, striking the attendees, who only wanted to pay their respect to Dark Man X.
After getting shot, one victim found safety and shelter in a News 12 van. Reporter Ty Milburn and his photographer Dan Foley received the bloody victim in their station’s vehicle. They kept him safe there until an ambulance was able to come and take him to the hospital.
Milburn, Foley, and the rest of the team were not allowed to get back into the vehicle because it is now considered a crime scene.
There is no word on why the shooting started, nor how either victim is feeling. Law enforcement is already investigating the crime.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard was incredibly disappointed that the evening was spoiled by street violence.
She said, “We had a peaceful and unifying event. It is very unfortunate that an hour and a half to two hours after the event ended and not connected to the event that we had shootings.”
Despite growing up in Yonkers, Money Earning Mt. Vernon hosted Wednesday night’s vigil because they also claim the multi-platinum artist as their son, since DMX, real name Earl Simmons, was born in the Westchester County city.
Katrina Simmons was in attendance to celebrate her cousin, who died just last Friday in a White Plains Hospital and got emotional thinking about the tribute (which included prayers, released balloons, and a block party).
She said, “It’s a little overwhelming but I think it’s deserving because he meant so much to do many, and I’m looking at so many pictures and memories that people are sharing and it’s amazing he was able to put out albums and movies and still find the time to individually impact people’s lives.”
Everything was beautiful before things went left.
While there are not any updates on the two victims, shot in two completely separate incidents, both are expected to survive.