Hip hop mogul Suge Knight has 'lost a lot of blood': family
By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hip hop mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, who was shot and wounded at a Los Angeles nightclub over the weekend, was resting at a local hospital but had "lost a lot of blood," his family said on Monday. Knight, 49, was struck by bullets early on Sunday morning when a gunman opened fire at a club in West Hollywood during a party in advance of the MTV Music Video Awards across town at The Forum in Inglewood. Knight, best-known as the co-founder of Death Row Records, home to such rap stars as Dr Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, suffered multiple gunshot wounds but was expected to survive, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a written statement. Two other people hit by gunfire, identified only as a 19-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man, were also expected to survive their wounds, the sheriff's department said. "The family of Suge Knight ask that you keep Suge in your prayers and to stray away from the negativity portrayed by the media," Knight's family said in a statement posted on his Facebook page. "Suge is currently resting and has lost a lot of blood, he's human. He's done a lot of things for the community and the culture as a whole so we ask that you respect that," the family said. A spokeswoman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Knight was reportedly taken following the shooting, would not confirm or deny that the music executive was being treated there or release any information on his condition. The New York Daily News reported that the party was hosted by R&B star Chris Brown and that he was cooperating with the investigation. "This incident did not involve Chris; he was merely the host of the event," his representatives said in a statement released to the newspaper. Brown, in a tweet posted hours after the incident, called it "disappointing that we as a society can't have fun or enjoy ourselves without any altercations sometimes." Sheriff's officials say deputies responding to the scene found hundreds of people fleeing the nightclub, including Knight and the other two shooting victims. "Video at the club shows the suspect, a black-male adult, shoot a handgun at victim Knight, striking him and two other victims who were in Knight's vicinity," a sheriff's spokeswoman said in the statement. Sheriff's officials said the weapon used in the shooting has not been recovered and the suspect remained at large on Monday, asking that anyone with information about the incident come forward to assist in the investigation. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Eric Walsh and Ken Wills)
