A man who is an employee for rap superstar 50 Cent is facing assault and gun charges, after he allegedly pistol-whipped a Hartford, Connecticut nightclub promoter last week.
Dwaye “Hove” McKenzie lives at 50 Cent’s sprawling Farmington mansion, which was once the residence of boxing champion Mike Tyson.
According to police, McKenzie and promoter Howard Allison were involved in an argument last Wednesday (October 10) outside of Hartford nightclub Club Life.
The pair were allegedly arguing over Allison’s refusal to announce an after-party that was taking place at 50 Cent’s mansion.
According to police, McKenzie pulled up to Allison and asked him about promoting the after party.
Allison told police he replied “You don’t call someone up threatening to smack them because they don’t big you up in the club.”
McKenzie, 26, got out of his 2007 Cadillac Escalade and struck Allison in the chin, pushing him into a parked car. McKenzie then allegedly struck Allison in the right eye with a pistol and told him to “call the cops,” before getting into his SUV and driving off.
On Sunday (October 14) police stopped McKenzie in downtown Hartford on an unrelated weapons charge.
A search of his vehicle turned up a 9MM and another handgun.
McKenzie lost the right to carry a gun over the summer, when he shot at a man who robbed him of a $100,000 dollar necklace outside of a different nightclub.
He appeared in court yesterday (October 15) and was arraigned on two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of weapons in a motor vehicle.
McKenzie was accused of discharging a weapon last August, after he fired shots at Adolfo Yepez, 26, who allegedly stole a $100,000 necklace from McKenzie outside a Hartford nightclub.
The State of Connecticut decided not to prosecute McKenzie because he was robbed, but he lost his permit to carry a gun due to the incident.
According to McKenzie’s attorney Gerald M. Klein, McKenzie was in the process of getting his permit restored when McKenzie was arrested again.
“I am surprised. I thought he was going to be a one-shot client. He did not have a criminal record and had one year of college,” Klein told the Hartford Courant.
McKenzie was being held on $1.5 million dollars bail, which was been reduced to $750,000 dollars.
McKenzie is due back in court on November 6.