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Police seek gunman after 3 shot during Denver concert

Gunman with a rifle shot and wounded three people at the end of a rap concert at the popular Red Rocks outdoor amphitheater

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Police guard the south entrance to Red Rocks Amphitheater, in Morrison, Colo., Friday June 20, 2014.

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By Dan Elliott
Associated Press

DENVER — A gunman with a rifle fired on an SUV carrying rapper ScHoolboy Q after a concert at the popular Red Rocks outdoor amphitheater near Denver, but he wasn’t hurt, investigators said Friday.

Three other people suffered non-life threatening injuries during the attack late Thursday in a parking lot at Red Rocks.

Investigators have not released a possible motive for the shooting and said they do not know if ScHoolboy Q was targeted. No arrests have been made.

“It just happened 12 hours ago. We have a lot to learn,” said Jacki Kelley, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.

ScHoolboy Q, whose birth name is Quincy Matthew Hanley, is from Los Angeles. His most recent album, “Oxymoron,” debuted at No. 1 earlier this year and reflects his life as a father and former gang member.

He and Kendrick Lamar, who was nominated for seven Grammys this year, are members of Black Hippy.

ScHoolboy Q said on Twitter Friday that he was OK.

“im str8...... dont trip,” he wrote.

Ray Alba, a representative for ScHoolboy Q, didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The rapper and at least four other people were in a white SUV that was fired on at the venue in the foothills west of Denver, authorities said.

They drove themselves to a Denver intersection about 15 miles away, apparently in search of a hospital, before being stopped by Denver police and taken for medical attention, Kelley said.

ScHoolboy Q and another uninjured person were briefly handcuffed while police assessed the situation, but no one in the vehicle was arrested.

Nas and Flying Lotus also performed at the concert that benefited three groups, including the Gang Rescue and Support Project of Denver.

“We want to know what’s going on so we can help out in any way,” said Cisco Gallardo, director of the gang rescue group. “There could have been (a) prior beef, prior problems.”

About 4,500 people attended the concert at the amphitheater, which seats as many as 9,525 people.

Promoters said the gang rescue group got 5 percent of the profits. Two other groups also got 5 percent each: Preserve the Rocks, which helps preserve the Red Rocks venue, and Helping Our People Excel, a Denver-area charity with a food pantry and other services.

Investigators stopped and questioned each car that left the venue. Traffic was chaotic and slow, but “we had a shooter out there,” sheriff’s spokesman Mark Techmeyer said.

Witnesses were interviewed until early Friday.

The amphitheater and surrounding park in the foothills west of Denver are popular with joggers and sightseers. Most of the park had been reopened, but the area of the shooting remained sealed off.

The Beatles and Grateful Dead have performed at Red Rocks, where U2 filmed “Under a Blood Red Sky.”

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press

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