Oakland rapper Kenny Clutch, who was killed during a drive by shooting and crash in Las Vegas, made gangsta rap and portrayed that lifestyle, but his family and associates say he was a much different person in real life.
Ken Cherry, his real name, crashed after a black Range Rover opened fire on his Maserati on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday morning, reported The Associated Press. Police on Friday searched for the Range Rover, saying it was last seen near the Venetian resort after the shooting scene.
“What happened will not be tolerated,” Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told the news agency, adding that the perpetrators would be “found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
After he was shot, his Maserati blew through a red light and hit a taxi cab, causing the cab to burst into flames, killing the passenger and driver. The victims were not identified.
Cherry’s 75-year-old aunt, Pat Sims, said that with her nephew’s death, “the world has lost a good man,” she told the Oakland Tribune.
“I’m not saying he didn’t have his faults, but he was very kind, especially to older people. Whatever happened in Vegas, I don’t know about, but he was a very kind soul,” she said.
Cherry’s attorney said the rapper’s death is in contrast to how he was living.
“In my interaction with him, I can tell you that by the way he looked and what he put out there on his videos, he fit a certain stereotype,” his lawyer, Vicki Greco, told the Tribune. “But I also can tell you that away from that, he was anything but that kind of stereotype. He was honest. He was loyal. He was very dependable. Sometimes, he'd drop by my office just to say hello. He was a nice, nice kid.”
