Takeoff’s suspected killer ‘searched online for fake plane tickets to leave America’
Takeoff’s suspected killer allegedly looked up how to secure fake plane tickets to leave America.
Takeoff’s suspected killer allegedly looked up how to secure fake plane tickets to leave America.
Police and prosecutors claim Patrick Xavier Clark, 33, searched for information about using false passes and obtaining an expedited passport after he was arrested on December 1.
He also allegedly made repeated online searches about whether he was a suspect in the Takeoff murder case.
The accusations, denied by Clark via his lawyers, emerged in a court hearing on Wednesday, (15.12.22) which was reported by Billboard.
Lawyers for Clark claimed he had no intention of fleeing Houston where Migos rapper Takeoff, 28, real name Kirsnick Khari Ball, was fatally shot in the head and back outside a bowling alley on November 1 at around 2.30am.
Sergeant Michael Burrow testified during Wednesday’s hearing Clark’s mobile phone showed he had searched online for bogus plane tickets after his arrest, and stated: “It was my belief he was preparing to flee the country.”
Clark’s legal team insisted he had cancelled a previously planned trip to Mexico and on the day of his arrest had been looking for an apartment to rent in Houston.
Clark has said he is innocent of murder and denied he shot the musician, after gunfire was said to have erupted following an argument over a “lucrative” game of dice outside the bowling venue.
Takeoff is understood not to have been involved in the argument, to which he was said to have been an “innocent bystander”.
One of Clark’s lawyers, Letitia Quinones, said after the Wednesday hearing: “We feel comfortable that when the time is right that Mr Clark will have a valid and meritorious claim for self-defence.”
She suggested during the hearing Clark fired after someone shot at him first, but police have claimed he opened fire first.
The suspect’s lawyers also sought to have his bond reduced from $2 million (£1.6 million) to $100,000 (£82,000.)
Billboard reported District Judge Josh Hill was initially hesitant to reduce Clark’s bond owing to believing that he could be a flight risk, but agreed to reduce Clark’s bond to $1 million (£822,000) if additional security requirements could be met.
Two other people sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the bowling alley shooting.
