PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. — Rapper Beanie Sigel was shot in the abdomen outside a home in New Jersey on Friday, police said.
Authorities and Sigel's lawyer initially called the wound life-threatening, but hospital officials told police that the 40-year-old rapper was awake Friday afternoon after surgery, Pleasantville police Chief Jose Ruiz told The Associated Press. Investigators were on their way to try to interview him, he said.
Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, and another man were found injured outside the home Friday morning. The other man refused medical treatment and was uncooperative, police said.
There may be "some type of family relationship" between the two men, but investigators aren't sure yet, Ruiz said. "Apparently, there was a struggle of some type, which led to Mr. Grant being shot and that is all we have at this point," Ruiz said.
Sigel's attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. said his family told him that Sigel had just taken his children to school and that Sigel was an unintended target of the shooting.
The family asked that the hospital not release any information on his condition, spokeswoman Jennifer Tornetta said.
Sigel had three albums hit the top five on the Billboard album chart: "The Truth" in 2000, "The Reason" in 2001 and "The B. Coming" in 2005. He also starred in the movie "State Property" and its sequel. He has been in and out of courtrooms over the past decade, sometimes with Jay-Z and Beyonce looking on from the gallery.
In August, Sigel was moved from federal prison to a halfway house after serving a two-year tax-evasion sentence for failing to pay more than $700,000 in taxes and then released to home confinement in September. He was scheduled to be released from home confinement on Saturday, according to Ed Ross, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
