Houston police chief Troy Finner revealed during a press conference Friday that one month after Takeoff’s death, officials arrested and charged a man with murder.
Patrick Xavier Clark, 33, was detained Thursday evening on Houston’s east side. Cameron Joshua, 22, was detained last month and charged with unauthorized carrying of a firearm, according to the chief. When questioned how he was related to the crime, Finner stated that Joshua was there at the scene and was “in possession of a firearm (and) he’s a felon.”
Takeoff, a member of the platinum-selling rap trio Migos, was shot and murdered outside a company after a private event on November 1. He was 28. The other two members of the group were his uncle Quavo and cousin Offset.
“We lost a good man,” Finner said during the news conference. “I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him but everybody, the hundreds of people that I’ve talked to, spoke on what a great individual he was.”
Prosecutors in Harris County requested a $1 million bond for Clark in a motion filed on Friday, stating that he should be deemed a “flight risk.” According to the petition, Clark requested for an expedited passport shortly after the assassination and received it just before his arrest. When he was caught, he had a “huge sum of cash money.”
Prosecutors also requested that Clark submit “any and all passports, visas, or other travel papers,” and be prevented from leaving the Harris County area, and be subject to a curfew.
Though the case is still under investigation, investigators believe Takeoff was “an innocent bystander,” according to Sgt. Michael Burrow of the Houston Police Department’s homicide section.
“The event was a private party, there was a profitable dice game during the event, and then there was an altercation outside the bowling alley that led to the shooting,” Burrow explained.
Takeoff was not participating in the dice game or the altercation, and he was unarmed, according to Burrow.
Takeoff, according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, is a skilled performer and much more.
“He was a son, a brother, cousin and a friend, and a mentor to those in the music industry,” the mayor said, calling the arrest in his killing a “significant step toward seeking justice.”
“I want to express my regret and disappointment that this was a case of another young man taking the life of another young man for no reason,” he added. “The gun violence everywhere, not just in the city of Houston, has to stop.”
“Pulling a firearm can have deadly consequences that you cannot undo. So I’m glad an arrest has taken place, that we do have someone in custody. It is unfortunate, it really is unfortunate because it does not bring Takeoff back,” Turner said.
Authorities are still looking for and speaking with witnesses, and both Burrow and the police chief have asked individuals who were on the scene but escaped to contact authorities and tell what they know.
“Any individual that’s killed in our city, it’s tough, and it’s tough on their family, tough on their friends. Everybody deserves an investigation,” Finner, the police chief said. “But … we need people to step up too. Do your part as a citizen and if you see something, you need to say something. Don’t let the fear paralyze you. Step up and say something.”
According to Burrow, more than 30 individuals were standing outside when the incident occurred.
“Literally every single one of those people left the scene without giving a statement to police,” he said. “We found a few of them that night, we’ve found others since then but it’s important that those people come forward.”
Meanwhile, investigators have had to depend on “a vast number of video surveillance,” cell phone footage, audio, physical and ballistic evidence, and shot reconstruction attempts.
“Through that, we were able to deduce that Patrick Clark is the lethal shooter in the case,” Burrow said.