According to Allhiphop.com, a rapper associated with Harlem, New York rap group The Diplomats shot and killed himself during a dramatic stand-off with police in upstate New York yesterday (Tues., March 17).
Darnell Brittingham, 23, of Hackensack, N.J., a.k.a. “King Tut,” was pronounced dead Tuesday night at the scene in the New York City suburb of Greenburgh, said police Lt. Chris McNerney.
Police in Hackensack had been looking for Brittingham since Feb. 12, when his girlfriend was stabbed seven times in an apartment there.
Brittingham had been released on $25,000 bail the day before, after police claimed they found cocaine and marijuana stuffed into a teddy bear in his car.
On Tuesday, Hackensack police alerted Greenburgh police that Brittingham’s cell phone had been traced to a Greenburgh motel. Officers staked out the motel, saw Brittingham get into a cab with a woman and pulled the cab over, McNerney said.
Officers ordered everyone out of the cab, and the driver and the woman complied. But Brittingham “ignored repeated orders to exit” and remained in the back seat. As several officers converged on the taxi he pulled out a handgun and reportedly shot himself in the head.
Paramedics pulled Brittingham from the cab, but could not revive him.
Information from Allhiphop.com contributed to this report.
