Chicago rapper Lil Reese is lucky to be alive after he was shot for the second time in less than two years. The 28-year-old drill artist, whose real name is Tavares Lamont Taylor, was among three people wounded in a shootout that erupted in a parking garage in the Near North Side neighborhood on Saturday, May 15.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the incident began when a 55-year-old man tracked his son’s stolen car to the garage using a GPS tracker and a cellphone. He confronted Reese and others who were inside the car on the third level of the garage, and another person appeared and opened fire on the car. The car then crashed and the occupants exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
Reese was grazed in the eye by a bullet, while another man was shot multiple times in the body and a third man was shot in the knee. All three were taken to hospitals and are expected to survive. Police recovered guns in the stolen car but no one has been arrested yet.
Reese, who is known for his collaborations with Chief Keef and Lil Durk, took to Instagram Live on Sunday to address the shooting and show his injuries. He said he was not involved in the car theft and that he was just directing the men in the car when they pulled up to the garage. He also claimed that the shooter was firing from a distance and that he did not see him.
“They was shootin’ from five lanes over,” Reese said. “I couldn’t even see him. I’m like, ‘Damn, where this sh*t coming from?'”
Reese also said he was not worried about his eye and that he would be fine. He thanked his fans for their support and prayers.
This is not the first time Reese has been shot. In November 2019, he was critically wounded after being shot in the neck in south suburban Country Club Hills. He recovered from that incident and released two EPs in 2020, Lamron 1 and Lamron 2.
Reese is one of the pioneers of Chicago’s drill scene, which emerged in the early 2010s and influenced many other rappers across the country. He rose to fame with his mixtapes The Savage and Don’t Like, which featured hits like “Us” and “Traffic”. He also appeared on Kanye West’s album Yeezus on the track “Don’t Like.1”.
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