According to reports, the mother of late rapper Takeoff is suing the venue owners where he was fatally shot late last year.
Titania Davenport filed the lawsuit in Harris County, TX on Wednesday against the property owners and assorted LLCs associated with Houston’s 810 Billiards & Bowling. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to provide proper security on the night of Takeoff’s death at the age of 28. The lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone, notes “the facility and premises were rented by a well-known music personality” — the family of Rap-A-Lot CEO J. Prince — and that there would be a gathering “‘after hours’ and with potentially many artists, popular athletes and public figures.”
“Despite these facts, Defendants provided no screening mechanisms, no after-hour controls or security measures, and no enforcement of rules or industry standards to deter crime against their invitees, to include [Takeoff], in fact, social media posting in advance of the party made it clear that not only basic security measures needed to be followed, but advance planning and consideration should have been taken into account, which Defendants were negligent in failing to do. Defendants knew or should have known that a significant number of violent crimes were committed at the subject premises and in the surrounding area, but negligently failed to protect invitees like [Takeoff] from the risks of violent crime. Moreover, in addition to prior crimes, Defendants negligently failed to take necessary and unique precautions due to the specific event and the attendees. Specifically, Defendants knew that based on the nature of the party, celebrities would more likely than not be in attendance and potentially be the targets of crime. Defendants negligently represented proper security would be in place, when in fact none was; this caused many people to come to the event without concern.”
There are a number of allegations of negligence throughout the lawsuit ranging from “Negligently failing to provide adequate and appropriate security personnel” and “Negligently failing to properly inspect and maintain the premises” to “Negligently failing to warn invitees of known hazards at the property” and “Negligently failing to properly retain, hire, train, and supervise their employees.”