Rap Artists Entourage Involved in Shooting Print
Written by Robert ID1412   
Friday, 20 May 2005 12:13

Two occupants in a car were shot outside a popular Queens club, and a third man in the same car may have also been a target, police said Friday. All three are believed to be connected to hip-hop rap artist 50 Cent's G-Unit entourage.

Police are trying to figure out the role played by the third man, Leroy Pressley, 24, of 106-56 159 St. in Jamaica, who they arrested on weapons charges.

Late Friday, they said Pressley is believed to have escaped gunfire that may have been directed at him and the two injured men.

Police believe the three to be associated based on months of surveillance, a top-ranked police source said.

Witnesses told police they saw Pressley's black Chevrolet Suburban matched the description of a car at the scene of the shooting at 11:35 p.m. Thursday outside the popular Club Amazura at 144th Place and Archer Avenue in Jamaica.

When police found Pressley and his SUV outside of 114-37 167th St. in Jamaica about 90 minutes later, they also found two loaded guns, three boxes of ammunition and a bullet-proof body vest that had been kicked underneath his car.

Pressley was then arrested on weapons possession charges.

The SUV is registered to G-Unit Touring, a police source said. It had one bullet hole in the rear driver's side door.

Also, a glove recovered at the shooting scene matches a glove in one of Pressley's pockets, according to a police source.

During the shooting, Jesse Brown, 21, of 114-05 179th St. in Jamaica, was shot in the chest, arm and buttocks, and Nicholas Sloane, 21, of 168-12 115th Ave. in Jamaica, was shot in the thigh.

Both were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where Sloane was in stable condition and Brown was in more serious condition.