Bronx rapper C Blu has been arrested and charged for allegedly shooting a police officer during a physical altercation.
The New York Daily News reports that the 16-year-old pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon, among other weapons charges. The teen is accused of carrying a stolen gun and was already on probation for gun possession.
According to authorities, C Blu and a group of “disorderly” people were outside of a building in the Bronx. When police demanded Blu remove his hands from his pockets, he started to grapple with an officer. During the commotion, a round was fired through the rapper’s leg, which also ended up grazing the leg of Officer Kaseem Pennant.
“This defendant has taken to social media and appeared multiple times displaying a firearm that looks similar to the firearm he possessed in the incident,” Assistant District Attorney Joseph Maniscalco said during C Blu’s arraignment.
The rapper’s attorney Dawn Florio said he didn’t shoot the cop. “My client never touched the gun,” she said while detailing what happened in a clip of the incident. “You could hear the people saying that they thought the police officer shot my client.”
Florio said the police targeted C Blu because he’s a “popular” artist. He’s now locked up with a $200,000 bail.
Prior to rap, C Blu was invested in his academic career. Along the way he began making beats with friends and listening to rappers like Lil Pump. He now has nearly 4.4 million YouTube views and a deal with Interscope Records for which he received “a very large advance in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to Florio. The 11th grader started home-schooling in November due to his rising star, which was distracting at his regular school.
“I’m on my school shit still. You gotta be smart…I want to be a biochemist, besides this rapping shit,” C Blu said in a YouTube interview at the top of the year.
The teen is an associate of 18-year-old Kay Flock, another emerging rapper from the Bronx. In December, Flock was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly shooting a man outside a barbershop in Manhattan.
