Takeoff Killed in Texas Shooting: Read the Emotional Tributes

As previously reported, Takeoff was shot and killed very early Tuesday morning in Houston.

The rapper, a member of popular hip hop group Migos, was only 28 years old.

According to various reports, he had been playing dice at a bowling alley with a group that included friend and fellow musician Quavo when an altercation broke out — and someone brandished a gun.

Two people were killed in the shootout, while Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene.

Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner confirmed at a news conference this afternoon that Takeoff had been murdered.

“I got many calls from Houston and outside of Houston, and everyone spoke of what a great young man he is, how peaceful he is, what a great artist (he is),” Finner said, later adding that Takeoff was well respected and nonviolent:

“I would not expect him to be involved…

“We have no reason to believe that he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”

Migos formed in 2008 in Georgia and reached the top of the Billboard chart in 2016 with “Bad and Boujee.”

In the wake of this fatal incident, a number of celebrities and members of the music community reacted in shock and sorrow via social media.

Rapper Gucci Mane, who’d recently collaborated with Takeoff and his uncle and bandmate Quavo on the song “Us vs. Them,” shared a photo of the rapper to Instagram, writing that the news left him devastated.

“This broke my heart 💔Rest In Peace @yrntakeoff,” he captioned the post.

Added Ja Rule on Twitter: “Rip Takeoff… this s— has to STOP… sending love to friends and family.”

Rapper Ugly God then broke down Migos’ influence on hip-hop, writing online that the trio’s 2015 debut album Yung Rich Nation changed the genre.

“do y’all not realize these n—s changed the whole cadence of rap when they came out? rip Takeoff,” he wrote.

“this man has been staying out the way, keeping it minimal, and minding his own buisiness [sic] since the beginning. If that’s not enough to be left alone, then idk.”

Journalist Jemele Hill also weighed in on the loss via a Twitter thread that expressed frustration with the frequency with which young Black men are shot and killed:

I was in college when Biggie and ‘Pac were killed and thought there was no way we’d ever experience anything remotely close to that again.

Now it’s happening so frequently that you barely have time to recover before someone else killed. RIP Takeoff.

Here comes another useless conversation about how the real issue is we need to better navigate our lives around gun violence. There are 400 million guns in this country — twice as many as we have people. There is no navigating around that.

Black people should be allowed to wear expensive things they’ve worked hard to buy, be out late, have petty arguments, without losing their lives.

We keep pointing the blame at everything but the people who recklessly pull the trigger.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, meanwhile, said he has have met with Takeoff’s mother.

“It doesn’t matter how famous you are. You may not be famous at all,” Turner said.

“Anybody who loses his or her life is a life lost, and there are family members and friends who are grieving as a result.”

Takeoff Killed in Texas Shooting: Read the Emotional Tributes was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .