A security guard at the mansion of Canadian hip-hop artist Drake has been “seriously injured” in a shooting outside the musician’s Toronto home.
The victim, an adult male, was rushed to a Toronto hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries following the shooting early on Tuesday morning.
Paul Krawczyk of the city’s police service told reporters on Tuesday that investigators had little information and were studying surveillance footage for leads.
The assailant was reportedly spotted fleeing the area in a vehicle.
Drake, whose legal name is Aubrey Graham, has in recent sparred publicly with the California rapper Kendrick Lamar in a series of “diss tracks”.
Krawczyk said police were aware of the tension between the two rappers but didn’t link the high-profile spat to the shooting.
“It is so early in the investigation that we don’t have a motive at this time,” Krawczyk said.
In recent days, the superstars have made increasingly provocative and unsubstantiated allegations against each other. Lamar’s most recent track, Not Like Us, features a satellite image of Drake’s 50,000 square foot mega-mansion – the same property that was cordoned off with police tape after Tuesday’s shooting.
The ongoing dispute between the two rappers, which has made headlines, has benefited at least one local business in Toronto. After Lamar, a Pulitzer-prize winner, referenced the Chinese restaurant New Ho King, business more than tripled and the eatery, established in the 1970s, was flood with rave reviews.
“Kendrick recommended … did not disappoint ... mans knows good food excellent service,” wrote one reviewer.