NYC rapper Troy Ave testifies about fatal shooting at T.I. concert: ‘I’d rather die fighting’
Rapper Troy Ave on Monday gave Manhattan jurors a gripping account of his life-and-death struggle with rival Taxstone for the gun used to kill his bodyguard during a 2016 scuffle at Irving Plaza.
The Brooklyn-born musician, whose real name is Roland Collins, testified at Taxstone’s murder trial that he chose to fight back after he was shot and wounded in the backstage melee on May 25, 2016.
“If it’s fight or flight I’m always going to fight because at that point you could die,” Collins, 37, said in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Collins described grappling with Taxstone, a hip-hop podcaster whose real name is Daryl Campbell, over the gun: “It looks like if you see people wrestle in high school wrestling — that type of position.”
“When the shot goes off I see the light from the spark and I hear the shot,” he testified. “This is all happening fast. I get up and start fighting Taxstone, trying to take him, grab the gun, and another shot goes off. I put my leg up to kind of block the shot from hitting me in the face or chest.”
That’s when Campbell shot him in both legs, he told jurors.
“I got up,” Collins said. “I’d rather die fighting. People die from leg shots. I’d rather die fighting than laying on the ground. I got up immediately.”
Collins finally got his hands on the gun and got his fleeing rival in his sights — only to have the weapon misfire, he testified.
Only then did he notice that his pal and bodyguard, Ronald “Banga” McPhatter, lay on the ground, face down.
“I rolled his body over and I’m like, ‘Banga, get up. Come on.’ I’m smacking him, like, ‘C’mon bro. Get up,'” Collins testified. “And his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. His shirt was red so I could tell he got shot.”
Two bystanders were also wounded during the shooting in the crowded VIP room at a T.I. concert — and Collins was initially hit with attempted murder and gun possession charges for his role in the incident.
Campbell, 37, is now on trial on murder, attempted murder, assault and weapons possession charges.
Collins’ lawyer told The Post that prosecutors promised him a one-year sentence — instead of the 15 years he could’ve faced — in exchange for his testimony at Campbell’s trial.
A running feud between the two artists finally boiled over that night after Collins said he and McPhatter walked into the VIP room before he was scheduled to join T.I. on stage and saw Campbell.
He said there were about 100 people packed into the room when he heard Campbell shout out, “What’s popping?” in what he perceived to be a threatening way.
“Banga turns around to e and says, ‘I’m gonna rock him,’ which means, ‘I’m gonna hit him,'” Collins testified. “And then I wink at him — I tell him, ‘Do your thing.'”
He said that’s when Campbell reached for his waistband and pulled a gun, prompting the fight that ended with McPhatter dead.
In the aftermath, Collins said concertgoers started to flee when someone yelled that cops were coming.
“I”m like, ‘No, f–k that,’ I’m staying with him,” he told jurors, referring to McPhatter.
Campbell was charged in January 2017 after police said they found his DNA on the 9 mm handgun used in the shooting.
“I can protect myself as a man, so I’m not thinking about rolling with six goons,” Campbell told detectives said after his arrest, according to court papers. “When I see you walking up with six dudes, bang-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
“That’s why I be laughing at rappers,” he allegedly said. “Rappers. I don’t care about you. I’m a tell you, ‘Try me.'”
Additional reporting by Steven Hirsch
