By Herb Scribner
A security guard working at Drake’s mansion in Toronto has been hospitalised with serious injuries after being shot outside the residence.
The victim was standing outside the home’s entrance when the shooting occurred, Toronto police inspector Paul Krawczyk said at a news conference outside Drake’s palatial residence. The shooting was captured on video, he said, but the shooter fled, and a motive has not been determined.
Drake was not thought to have been hared in the shooting.Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Krawczyk said he couldn’t confirm whether Drake was home during the incident but said the rapper’s team has been cooperating with the investigation. There is no indication that the shooting harmed Drake, who has been involved in an increasingly hostile, extremely public rap feud with Kendrick Lamar.
Police were called about 2am Eastern time to the intersection of Lawrence and Bayview avenues near the upscale Bridle Path neighbourhood. The victim was reportedly transported with a gunshot injury to Sunnybrook Hospital, where staff declined to comment to The Washington Post.
It’s unclear why police initially responded to that intersection, which is about a mile from Drake’s mansion. Several hours later, Canadian news organisations showed a heavy police presence outside Drake’s home, with CTV News reporting that the area had been taped off with caution tape in the courtyard.
The shooting comes amid a heavyweight feud between Drake and Lamar. Over the past several days, the two rap giants have traded personal insults through songs, disparaging each other’s family members, careers, upbringings and lifestyles.
Toronto Police investigate a shooting outside the mansion of rapper Drake in Toronto’s Bridle Path neighborhood.Credit: Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Lamar’s most recent dis track, Not Like Us, used a satellite image of Drake’s mansion as its cover art. The song accused Drake of paedophilia, among other unsupported claims. After the song dropped, Gizmodo reported, some people manipulated Google Maps to apply false labels to the mansion and other homes in the area, including “owned by Kendrick” and “ChildMOE-lester.”
Drake himself has often mentioned his home location in his songs, including with his own 2021 track 7am on Bridle Path. He also offered a tour of the residence in his Toosie Slide music video. Representatives for Drake declined to comment.
The mansion was a special one for Drake, who told Zane Lowe in an interview with Apple Music in 2016 that the home would “change my life,” calling it his “life’s work.”
Drake’s residence was reportedly built with security in mind. When he first purchased the two acres of land in 2015, Drake’s team started filing exemption paperwork so they could build what the Fader described as an “insane” mansion, featuring a basketball court, spa retreat, gym, basement pool, rooftop terrace and five bedrooms. In 2019, the city of Toronto allowed the rapper to build security walls twice as high as bylaws allow, according to the National Post.
Paramedics said a security guard working outside the home was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.Credit: Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Despite the increased security, a woman with a knife allegedly assaulted a security guard outside the mansion in 2021, according to the Toronto Sun. The woman was arrested outside the mansion, but it’s unclear whether charges were filed.
In 2018, a man was fatally shot at Drake’s Pick 6ix club in Toronto, CTV News reported. Drake was allegedly at the restaurant that day, but it was unclear whether he was there at the time of the shooting, according to CTV.
Three years earlier, two people died from a shooting at an after-party following Drake’s OVO Fest concert in Toronto, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Drake, who rarely speaks out on political matters, condemned the shooting in a blog post.
“I am plagued and pained by the violence that continues to escalate in our city,” he wrote in 2015. “I stare into the eyes of so many young people and I wish to see them all shine as bright as they possibly can in this lifetime. I encourage my generation to show as much value and gratitude as you can for the lives we have been gifted.”
Washington Post
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.