A rapper named Darrell Caldwell, who performed under the stage name Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed at the Once Upon a Time in LA event in Los Angeles, later dying of the wounds he sustained in the altercation. The incident happened on Saturday evening in a backstage area of the Live Nation event, with the remaining performances called off in the wake of the stabbing.
The 28-year-old was injured when a fight broke out behind the main stage at approximately 830 p.m. pacific time. California Highway Patrol indicated in a news release that he was injured by a “suspect wielding an edged weapon” and taken to the hospital, where he was later declared dead.
Once Upon a Time in LA was scheduled to feature 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Al Green, YG, The Game, Ice Cube and many others on three stages at Banc of California Stadium and Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Drakeo The Ruler was set for the 830 slot on the “G-Funk” stage. Performances on the day’s schedule had begun hours earlier.
Live Nation Entertainment was the festival organizer, and is once again under fire over event security. The entertainment giant has absorbed a brunt of the early blame for the death of ten concertgoers and injuries to hundreds of others in a crowd crush at Houston’s Astroworld Festival in November. Among the scores of lawsuits filed in the wake of that tragedy is one filed by security guards alleging that poor training and planning of those providing security at the event exacerbated the crowded conditions that led to the deaths.
Darrylene Corniel, the mother of the late Drakeo the Ruler, has said that she intends to file a lawsuit in the wake of his death, blaming poor venue security for what happened.
“This happened backstage at an event,” she says. “Someone has to be held accountable.”
Allegedly, Drakeo and his group were approached by a much larger group and “engulfed,” with the stabbing occurring somewhere in the melee. No arrests have been made in the incident as of Tuesday morning.
“They let all these people in, and you’re not supposed to have all these people backstage. And your security is supposed to be in place,” she said. “The whole program should have been orchestrated a lot better than what it was. And there should have been more protection. Even if you have metal detectors, even if you pat them down, you let those people come in there. You had more people come in than you were supposed to. And you allowed them to jump my son. You didn’t protect my son.”
