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Karma: 3 |  | N.O. Rapper Sporty T Murdered In FEMA Trailer
« Thread Started on Jul 19, 2008, 9:49pm » | |
New Orleans Rapper Sporty T Murdered In FEMA Trailer
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Unknown assailants toting an AK-47 opened fire on the exterior of a FEMA trailer in Gentilly Tuesday morning, killing a retired bounce rapper sleeping inside, according to the New Orleans Police Department.
Terence Vine, known to friends and fans as "Sporty T," was in bed when the assailants sprayed his trailer with bullets, several of which struck his body, according to police. John Gagliano, chief investigator for the New Orleans coroner's office, said Vine was 39, but family members and Garry Flot, a police spokesman, said they believed he was 41.
At 4:22 a.m. Tuesday, NOPD officers responded to a shots-fired call at 5150 Painters St., finding Vine's trailer riddled with at least 28 bullet holes, Flot said. Other bullets struck an SUV in the driveway owned by one of the victim's sisters.
Inside, they found Vine wounded. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, said Jeb Tate, a New Orleans EMS spokesman.
Detective Michael S. McCleery is heading the investigation. Police had no motive, suspects or witnesses, according to Flot.
In the hours after the shooting, several family members filed in and out of a peach-colored home behind Vine's trailer, consoling one another and preparing to receive friends and family.
Vine was a Hollygrove-bred bounce rapper with more than a dozen CDs credited to his name.
Vine's career started after he joined a rap trio known as the Ninja Crew when he was 14, recording three albums. He then signed as a solo artist with Big Boy Records and recorded more than a dozen albums with them, his sister said, drawing a local following.
In 1994, "Sporty T" performed with D.J. Jubilee, Partners in Crime and Black Menace during a high-profile "stop the violence" concert in Reserve. Four years later, he took to the Jazz and Heritage Festival's Congo Square stage and performed alongside 2 Sweet.
Eight years ago, he left the label and started his own Sporty Records, where he recorded the last of his work. Since then, he has held regular jobs and concentrated on parenting two 10-year-old sons and a 15-year-old stepdaughter, said his sister Sheila Vine.
Over the years, he had brushes with the law.
In April 1995, police accused him of shooting 22-year-old Corey Porter four times after a concert at star Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson's now-defunct Club 57 in Kenner. Porter had told Vine, "Your woman's not much," police said.
Police booked Vine with attempted first-degree murder, but he was never convicted on that charge, Sheila Vine said. A search of Jefferson Parish court records turned up no conviction or sentence, though the specific disposition of the case remained unclear.
As the case developed, police later booked Curtiss Oscar Williams, 19, with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting at Vine.
For Vine, other aggravated assault and battery charges followed, and in 2003, he served 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to a minor charge of possession of marijuana.
Another member of the Ninja Crew, Gregory Duvernay, better known as "Gregory D," pulled up to the home Tuesday morning and embraced Sheila Vine as he said, "I'm sorry," through quiet sobs.
"That was his best friend," Sheila Vine said.
The third member of the Ninja Crew, Terrence "Baby T" McKenzie, was murdered in Baton Rouge several years ago, according to Duvernay and Sheila Vine. In April 2000, The Baton Rouge Advocate reported the shooting death of a Terrence McKenzie, with no reference to a rap music career.
Terence Vine had been working as a self-employed drywall contractor, relatives said.
Hurricane Katrina separated the former rapper from one son, but he spent all the free time he could with the second one, who lived in Houston with his mother, Sheila Vine said. That son had spent Father's Day weekend in New Orleans and planned to spend more time with his father this summer, she said.
Many saw Terence Vine and his son together at soccer, boxing, football and basketball practices, especially when the boy played for Milne Boys Home teams before Hurricane Katrina, Sheila Vine said.
"My brother wasn't beefing with anybody," Sheila Vine said. "He didn't go out much. He just worked. He kept to himself. He loved his kids."
Source: The Times Picayune
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