Diplomats shooting up SUV

[fa bo lo us]

BostonGlobe.com
Two held after shots fired at car on I-93

By C. Kalimah Redd and Peter Demarco, Globe Correspondents, 2/27/2003

Three women in a car were allegedly shot at by a man on board rap star Cam'ron's tour bus early yesterday in an attack that apparently began with an argument at a Boston nightclub and spilled over to the Le Meridien hotel and then to gunfire on the Southeast Expressway.

The women, who were allegedly shot at as their 2003 Toyota Camry tailed the bus shortly before 3 a.m., were not injured, police said. The alleged shooter, Orland B. Young, 32, of New York, has been charged with three counts of assault with intent to murder.

''Reckless hardly defined the action of these individuals. Their actions were far more dangerous,'' said Lieutenant Paul Maloney, a State Police spokesman. ''They put the lives of these three women in jeopardy.''

Young was arraigned yesterday in Dorchester District Court and ordered held on $500,000 bail. A second passenger on the bus, Piri Pantoja, 24, of Richmond, Va., who allegedly provided Young with the firearm, was arraigned on the same charges, and held on $150,000 bail.

A woman and a man traveling with the bus in a Ford Excursion owned by Cam'ron, whose legal name is Cameron Giles, were charged with illegal possession of firearms and drugs. They were also ordered held on bail at their arraignments in Stoughton District Court. All of the suspects pleaded not guilty.

Cam'ron, a Harlem rapper who recorded two hit singles last year, ''Hey Ma,'' and ''Oh Boy,'' was on the bus but was not charged, police said.

Most of the dozen people aboard the bus are either members or are associated with the rap group The Diplomats.

According to authorities, the women were seen with the performers earlier in the evening in Boston during a promotional event at Club Aria in the basement of the Wilbur Theatre. At some point in the night, the women and performers separated.

Julie Murphy, spokeswoman of Le Meridien, said that at 2:20 a.m. Cam'ron and his entourage returned to the hotel, where they had reserved a few rooms for the night. They immediately retrieved their bags and checked out, she said, asking front desk employees to call police because they were concerned about women in a car who were outside the hotel.

Responding officers reported they encountered several people arguing in the hotel lobby, but were able to settle the dispute, said police spokesman Cliff Connolly. It was unclear yesterday whether any of the women shot at later were involved in the dispute.

At 2:45 a.m., as the tour bus traveled south on the Southeast Expressway, Young allegedly leaned out a right-side window and fired two shots at the car trailing, authorities said.

David Procopio, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, said the women called State Police on a cellphone and continued to follow the bus even though a .38-caliber bullet had hit one of the car's tires.

About 10 minutes later, State Police, conferring with the women by phone, stopped the bus where interstates 93 and 95 split in Canton. By that time, the women told police, those on board the bus had stopped to hand over their weapons to the occupants of the Ford Excursion, according to authorities.

Police found no weapons on the bus. They arrested and charged Keith Blacknell, 25, of New York, a passenger in the Ford, with illegal possession of three firearms and illegal possession of marijuana. Procopio said Blacknell was carrying a .38-caliber handgun and a .40-caliber Glock handgun. A Ruger .45-caliber handgun was also found in the console between the driver and front passenger's seats, he said.

The Ford's driver, Monique Garnett, 46, of Sharon Hills, Pa., was charged with illegal possession of a firearm, the gun found in the console, and illegal possession of marijuana.

Blacknell, who authorities said has eight aliases and has a criminal history in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, was ordered held on $1 million bail yesterday by Stoughton District Judge Francis Crimmins.

In Dorchester District Court, Pantoja's lawyer, Nancy Hurley, questioned the women's account of the shooting.

''It is difficult to see who did what inside a bus,'' she said.

Young's lawyer, Curtis Payne, questioned the severity of the charges against his client. ''We went from shots fired at a car to, all of a sudden, [an attempted] murder charge,'' he said.

The Diplomats were in Boston to promote the March release of their new CD, ''Diplomatic Immunity.'' Cam'ron, who is affiliated with the group but mostly performs under his own name, was scheduled to appear on the ''Ramiro and Pebbles Morning Show'' on WJMN (94.5 FM) yesterday morning.

''He never made it,'' said Chris Tyler, the station's music director, who described Cam'ron as ''more of a B-level'' artist with few top hits.


This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 2/27/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company



BostonHerald.com

Four arrested in shooting at vehicle on SE Expressway

by David Weber
Thursday, February 27, 2003







Three men and a woman connected to a New York-based rap group were arraigned yesterday on gun and drug charges after one of the men allegedly fired at a car carrying three women on the Southeast Expressway in Dorchester.


Authorities said it was unclear what prompted the shooting, but authorities believe the women may have been at the Theater District nightclub, Aria, while some of the defendants also were drinking there Tuesday night.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Sandra Gosser said Orland Young, 32, and Piri Pantoja, 23, were aboard a bus carrying the rap group, the Diplomats, and their entourage when the shooting erupted near Neponset Circle about 2:45 a.m.

Gosser said Young leaned out a right rear window of the bus and fired two shots, one of which flattened a tire on a red Toyota Camry carrying three women who were following the bus.

The women called 911 from a cell phone and continued to follow the bus, which was pulled over by state police on Route 128 in Canton, according to authorities.

Police said another member of the entourage, Keith Blacknell, 25, was arrested inside a Ford Excursion that had been following the bus also. Blacknell was carrying .38-caliber pistol in a rear pocket, a .40-caliber Glock in an inside jacket pocket and a .45-caliber Ruger in the center console of the Excursion, police said.

Michelle Garnett, 46, of suburban Philadelphia, was driving the Excursion, and she was arrested on charges of possessing the gun in the console and marijuana possession, according to police. Gosser said 11 men and one woman were taken off the bus, that also contained several bags of marijuana.

While all three of the women who were shot at identified Young as the shooter, one of the women said she had seen Pantoja carrying the gun tucked inside his waistband earlier that night.

State police Lt. Ron Sieberg said the men connected with the Diplomats had been asked to leave Aria by the club management after they had a dispute with another group inside the bar. Police said the Diplomats entourage also was asked to leave the Meridien Hotel.



























why were a car full of women chasing dips?... i mean groupies sure but even the hardest groupie is gonna stop chasing nigggaz after you bust some shots at them.

 

[The Watcher]

didnt one of the diplomats say they agree with the shit osama did or somethin? you know they gonna go hard on his ass just for that comment

why is he shootin at girls anyway? that shit is gangsta !

[Jome]

What is gangsta about shooting @ a car with chicks ??
What if one or more of them died?? How gangsta would that be?

Btw, none of the Dipsticks was involved in the shooting, just some of their posse.. lame!

[KVB]

Damn...

[fa bo lo us]

What is gangsta about shooting @ a car with chicks ??
What if one or more of them died?? How gangsta would that be?

Btw, none of the Dipsticks was involved in the shooting, just some of their posse.. lame!

the car was probably some guy's and there happened to be 3 women passengers in the car at the time, windows could have been tinted, who knows?