A bottle-throwing brawl reportedly took place between hip hop stars Chris Brown and Drake in W.i.P nightclub in Manhattan in the early hours of Thursday.
Now police are investigating whether shots were fired during the fight.
Witnesses told the NYPD they heard a gun go off amid the ruckus in the early hours of Thursday, although none said they saw the weapon.
“We are investigating the possibility of gunshots fired at the club,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the New York Daily News.
“We have several eyewitnesses telling detectives they heard what they believed to be shots fired during the disturbance.”
Witnesses claimed the brawl – which saw at least five people hospitalized – came after Chris Brown and Drake scrapped over their former flame, singer Rihanna.
On Thursday night, Chris Brown’s lawyer reportedly gave detectives “physical evidence” allegedly proving Drake was involved in the fight – even though the hip hop artist said he had been outside.
Lawyer Mark Geragos went to the NYPD late on Thursday night to present evidence showing that Drake was one of the aggressors, law enforcement sources have claimed.
Chris Brown is also reportedly being treated as a “witness and victim” rather than a suspect in the melee, which turned the New York City nightclub, W.i.P, into a war zone.
He spoke to detectives about the incident late on Thursday night, yet Drake has not.
There have been conflicting reports about what happened at the SoHo nightspot.
Witnesses claimed the two recording stars started fighting after Chris Brown sent Drake a bottle of champagne as a peace offering – which was promptly snubbed by Drake.
He reportedly sent the bottle back with a note: “I’m f****** the love of your life, deal with it.”
Chris Brown, 23, dated Rihanna until she dumped him after he savagely beat her in 2009. After their breakup, Rihanna was romantically linked with rapper Drake.
The New York Police Department is investigating the fight.
A spokesman said investigators believe Chris Brown, his bodyguard and a woman with him were trying to leave the club about 4:00 a.m. when they were confronted by five members of Drake’s posse.
As they were squaring off, someone – police don’t know who yet – threw a bottle.
Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, was not in the group that confronted Chris Brown, said NYPD Lt. John Grimple.
One of the club-goers caught in the middle of the fracas was Hollie C., an Australian tourist who was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after she was smashed in the head with a flying bottle during the fight.
A gruesome photo shows a gash in her head and her face covered with blood. She needed 16 stitches to close the wound.
Hollie C. told TMZ.com she went to W.i.P. with friends on Wednesday night, unaware they were sitting in between two angry rappers and their entourages. Suddenly, all hell broke loose.
“Within a few moments of noticing glass being thrown around, I saw a glass bottle headed towards me, consequently hitting me in the head,” she told TMZ.
“I immediately started to bleed and proceeded to fall in and out of consciousness.”
She was one of eight people treated as a result of the fight. Hollie C. and four others had nothing to do with the bar brawl.
Tony Parker, the French basketball player who was once married to actress Eva Longoria, also claimed he was hurt during the fight.
“I was quietly with my friends when a fight broke out. Bottles started flying everywhere. I tried to protect my girlfriend and I got everything,” Tony Parker told French website Direct Star.
“The cornea is affected. I cannot do anything for seven days. Wear a therapeutic contact lens and I get drops. I was lucky, that I almost had to get stitches.”
Big Pat, Chris Brown’s bodyguard, was photographed laying in a hospital bed with a bloody wound on his head. He was seen out in Manhattan on Thursday with the cut visible on his head.
Chris Brown was also injured. He posted a picture of a gash on his chin, apparently sustained from the fight with Drake. His female companion was also hurt.
In the wake of the horrific injuries, the New York City Council has called for an emergency meeting with nightclub owners and police to look into policies for selling bottled drinks.
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn released a statement on Friday that read: “I am deeply concerned by reports of the bottle throwing melee that injured more than five people in SoHo this week.
“That is why I have immediately convened an emergency meeting next week between my office, the NYPD, and the nightlife industry.
“The purpose of this meeting is to send a clear message to all nightclub patrons that bottles cannot be used as weapons and to determine if the guidelines surrounding bottle service need to be updated or reworked.”
After Drake snubbed Chris Brown’s bottle of champagne, Brown reportedly flew into a rage and confronted Drake, according to website Global Grind.
Drake allegedly threw a punch but before the singer could retaliate, another man hit Chris Brown in the face with a bottle.
A source told the New York Post: “They were on opposite sides of the room, Drake went over to the middle of the club to talk to someone, then words were exchanged with Chris and his entourage.”
The source said someone from Drake’s entourage, possibly the singer himself, threw a bottle.
“Once the bottle was thrown, all hell broke loose and there were more bottles thrown.”
The fight allegedly kicked off as the last song was playing, just before 4:00 a.m.
Police were already at the scene because it was closing time and that they “were on it in seconds and began getting everyone out of the club”.
Pictures of the aftermath show the club floor strewn with broken glass.
Chris Brown was pulled out of the situation by his own security and helped out of the club while Drake was pulled to the back of the club, the source said. “[Drake] was one of the last out of W.i.P.”
Police were looking at surveillance footage and talking to patrons who witnessed the melee. No arrests have been made and no complaints filed.
In a separate incident, just a day after the brawl, the bar’s owner Jonathan Cantor was arrested after out-of-control music at his other venue, Greenhouse in SoHo, the New York Post reported.
Drake has denied he was involved in “any kind last night at W.i.P.”. His spokeswoman said in a statement: “He was on his way out of the club when the altercation began.”
Chris Brown and Drake have had a war of words since both being romantically attached to Rihanna. The fight will further fuel rumors regarding the closeness of Rihanna to Chris Brown.
Earlier this week the pair partied at the same club for the second time in as many days, leaving within minutes of each other.
TMZ reported the pair was in the club together for around 30 minutes and Chris Brown spent some time with Rihanna at her table.
Sitting in different booths, the couple still “kept a close eye on each other” – and Chris Brown sent her over two bottles of Ace of Spades Champagne.
A video surfaced earlier this week of the pair leaving the club minutes apart.
The lovelorn pair has been linked together several times already this year, after it emerged that they had recorded songs with each other.
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