A wheelchair bound Troy Ave was taken into Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday (May 30) where he was arraigned on charges connected to his alleged role in the concert shooting at New York City's Irving Plaza last Wednesday. Facing an attempted murder rap that could be upgraded pending the results of ballistics tests on the bullet that killed friend and bodyguard Ronald McPhatter, Troy Ave, whose given name is Roland Collins, plead not guilty; denying responsibility for McPhatter's death. Through his lawyers, Collins also shot down reports that the gunshot wound to his leg was of his own doing.
"This 11 seconds of video that the NYPD released, it doesn't say what happened before, it doesn't say what happened after," attorney Scott Leemon said. "The scientific evidence will show he didn't shoot himself. This was another rush to judgement. In this case he's the victim and should be treated like the victim."
Collins was implicated the day after the incident when upon review of surveillance footage officials were able to identify it him firing a gun in the venue's green room. Victim Christopher Vinson, 34, has remained largely absent from the media's coverage of the event and 26-year-old Maggie Heckstall has told police that all she recalls is Snapchatting on a couch when the shots rang out. She denies having seen who the shooter was.
The prosecution was committed to moving forward with the evidence at hand. "This defendant is on video coming out of the VIP room where the individuals were shot," said Assistant DA Christine Keenan. "He had the gun in his hand and was seen firing that gun in the direction of fleeing patrons."
