Titania Davenport alleges that the property owners of 810 Billiards & Bowling failed to provide adequate security measures at their venue on the night of Takeoff’s death, despite being made aware of the increased need, according to court filings obtained by The Times.
Davenport is seeking more than $1 million in damages to cover Takeoff’s personal injuries, funeral expenses, mental anguish and more.
“[The venue was] informed that the event required extra security and would draw a large crowd, many of whom could be celebrities, which in itself presents unique and advance security considerations, none of which were taken,” reads the document filed Wednesday by Davenport in Harris County District Court in Texas.
Davenport’s legal team pointed to social media video that they said showed “advance planning and consideration should have been taken into account” on that November night.
Takeoff was “an innocent bystander” who was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Houston police said at the time of his death. The Atlanta rapper had been in a crowd, leaving a private party at the bowling alley, when he was shot in the head and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
In late May, a grand jury in Harris County indicted Patrick Xavier Clark, who is accused of shooting and killing Takeoff outside the Houston bowling alley, on a murder charge.
Houston Police Department detectives previously said that video surveillance, cellphone video and audio, physical and ballistic evidence and shooting reconstruction led to Clark’s arrest.
Clark, a 33-year-old DJ and nightclub promoter, was arrested by Houston police in December and has been out on a $1-million bond. He is under house arrest awaiting his next hearing in August.
Takeoff was one of three members of the Atlanta-based hip-hop group Migos, along with his uncle Quavo, 32, and friend Offset, 31. The Grammy nominees are known for hits such as “Hannah Montana,” “Stir Fry” and “Bad and Boujee.” A month before Takeoff died, he and Quavo released an album, “Only Built for Infinity Links,” under the name Unc & Phew — short for uncle and nephew.
Following his nephew’s death, Quavo posted a tribute online that emphasized Takeoff’s unmistakable presence.
“Nothing ever really bothered Take and he didn’t bother anybody. He was the most unbothered person in the world,” he wrote. “He never got mad, he never raised his voice, and when he did he silenced the room because what Take said was law and he wasn’t changing his mind fa na, not even Unc could.”
In a Variety interview last month, Offset spoke about how he was processing his friend’s untimely death.
“He’s not here. That s— feels fake, bro,” he said. “I get through my day thinking it’s fake. And I don’t say nothing to nobody about it.”
Times staff writers Nardine Saad, Jonah Valdez and Kenan Draughorne contributed to this report.