The family of Drakeo the Ruler has blamed insufficient security at Snoop Dogg’s music festival for enabling dozens of men to ambush the rapper.
Drakeo, whose real name was Darrell Caldwell, died hours after he was stabbed during a fight backstage at Once Upon a Time in LA. He was 28.
“How did these people get through? How did these people get access, backstage, to an artist?,” asked Tianna Purdue, the mother of Caldwell’s 5-year-old son, at a news conference Thursday. “Where was anyone? Where was anyone there to help him?”
The family, which plans to file a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit, showed video in which men swarm a fenced-off area and attack Caldwell. No security guards or police officers can be seen in the clip, The Associated Press reported.
No arrests have been made in connection to the deadly attack.
Calling it a “targeted assassination,” lawyer James Bryant said Caldwell was “lynched by 40 to 60 people” and “this would never have happened if those promoters had the proper security protocol.”
Caldwell was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in March 2018. He was acquitted but was put on trial for criminal gang conspiracy and shooting from a motor vehicle. He was released from prison on a plea deal in November 2020 after spending 34 months behind bars.