50 Cent, entourage
involved in altercation

updated 3:22 p.m. ET May 10, 2004

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Police broke up a shoving match at a Springfield club after rapper 50 Cent and his entourage jumped from the stage during a surprise appearance and scuffled in the audience.

Two people were arrested for disturbing the peace at the Hippodrome club early Saturday morning, said Springfield Police Capt. Charles Arpin.

Police also were investigating whether a nearby shooting was related.

The crowd of 1,400 people didn’t know 50 Cent was there until he took the stage after other acts. About 10 minutes later, someone in the crowd threw water at him from a cup or a bottle, Hippodrome co-owner Michael J. Barrasso said.

“He removed his gold chain, handed it to someone on the stage next to him and jumped off the stage into the crowd,” Barrasso said. The rapper’s entourage, including bodyguards, also jumped off the stage.

The audience was so dense, Barrasso couldn’t tell whether there was any fighting beyond pushing. Security guards and police officers pushed the rapper — whose real name is Curtis Jackson — and his entourage back on stage, Barrasso said.

“He finished the song, believe it or not,” Barrasso said. “Then the whole entourage and him just rushed for the exit, got in their cars and left.”

Two men were charged with disturbing the peace.

Afterward, a man walked into the Mercy Medical Center emergency room with a gunshot wound to the leg, saying he’d been shot about a block from the theater. Arpin said police aren’t certain whether the shooting was related to the disturbance to the Hippodrome.

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