TORONTO — Drake's sprawling Toronto mansion was surrounded by police on Tuesday after a security guard working outside the rapper's residence was seriously injured in an overnight shooting.
Toronto police were searching for suspects who fled in a vehicle and said it was too early to comment on a motive. Insp. Paul Krawczyk said he was aware of the headline-grabbing feud between Drake and rapper Kendrick Lamar but made no connection to it and would not comment further.
Krawczyk said he could not confirm if Drake was home at the time of the shooting, but he said the rapper's team was co-operating with investigators.
"It is so early in the investigation that we don't have a motive at this time," Krawczyk said in an update outside Drake's mansion.
"This is no different than any other investigation. It's maybe more high-profile because there's more people here, but we treat it like any other incident."
Representatives for Drake did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Yellow police tape fluttered in the breeze, cordoning off sections of the street outside the rapper's home on Tuesday. Multiple police vehicles were seen in the area and officers could be seen walking around.
The shooting took place shortly after 2 a.m. outside Drake's home in the affluent Bridle Path neighbourhood, police said.
Krawczyk said a security guard had been standing outside the gates at the front of the residence when he was shot from a vehicle that fled the scene. He said the guard was rushed to hospital in serious condition.
"We have individuals who obviously performed the shooting who were seen in a vehicle. I do not have a description of the vehicle or the suspects at this time," Krawczyk said.
He said he did not know whether the security guard was the target of the shooting or if the suspects tried to get into the sprawling mansion complex.
At Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital, which is not far from Drake’s home, a volunteer on site said the security guard was in the critical care ward but a nurse said media weren’t allowed in the area. The volunteer said she had taken a police officer to the ward earlier in the day.
Police said they had collected video of the shooting but could not immediately identify the suspect vehicle. Krawczyk said police were dealing with "video quality issues," and more information would be provided once they had a chance to analyze it further.
Asked about the shooting at an unrelated news conference Tuesday morning, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she hopes police "will find the people that are violating the law and catch them."
"Any shooting is not welcome in this city," she said.
The shooting came as a long-simmering lyrical back-and-forth between Drake and Lamar escalated in the last week as both released tracks that included unsubstantiated allegations directed at each other.
Drake, born Aubrey Drake Graham, is one of the best-selling artists of the modern era. He’s released 13 No. 1 hits across his career, including “God’s Plan,” “Work” featuring Rihanna, and “One Dance” with Wizkid and Kyla.
Lamar first poked fun at Drake in an appearance on a 2013 single and while the two traded barbs starting late last year, the public conflict ratcheted up in March.
That's when rappers Future and Metro Boomin released their album "We Don't Trust You" featuring several veiled Drake insults and at least one overt one in a guest appearance by Lamar. A month later, Drake issued a diss track that took jabs at all three rappers, particularly Lamar, who Drake implied is lagging behind his contemporaries.
Drake then posted another diss track on his Instagram that used AI-generated voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg to goad Lamar. Lamar issued a track accusing Drake of having plastic surgery and calling him a bad father.
Late Friday, Drake dropped a track that alleges infidelity and accuses Lamar of abusing his fiancée. Less than an hour later, Lamar released a track suggesting Drake has a secret daughter. Another Lamar diss track was released overnight with an image of Drake's Toronto mansion as the cover and had Lamar rapping specific personal insults, including an accusation that Drake is attracted to underage girls.
Drake issued a new track Sunday claiming he fed rumours of a secret daughter as bait, adding: "I’d never look twice at no teenager."
Drake was named Spotify’s most streamed artist of the decade, has won five Grammy awards, and is often credited for ushering in the new era of hip-hop where rappers sing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2024.
Maan Alhmidi and Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
