Hub man, 29, is killed in club shooting
Joshua Hollis, 22, of Cambridge, one of two suspects charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, was arraigned yesterday at Boston Municipal Court. The second suspect, Andrew Flonory, did not have to appear in court. (Ted Fitzgerald/ Pool) A rising star in the Boston rap scene was fatally shot early yesterday during a fight outside a club in the city’s Theatre District, where a concert and music release party had been held.
Roc Dukati — whose real name is Jamie Lee, 29, of Boston — died a short time after he and a second victim checked themselves into Boston Medical Center. The second victim in the 2 a.m. shooting, a 24-year-old whose name was withheld, is expected to recover.
The shooting occurred during a fight outside the Caprice Restaurant and Lounge on Tremont Street and included several men who had been attending an event for Cambridge rapper Millyz. Shots rang out in front of the club, then across the street in the Tufts Medical Center parking garage, police said.
Police quickly secured the area and locked down the garage. Two men — Andrew Flonory, 26, of Brockton and Joshua Hollis, 22, of Cambridge — were found with guns and arrested in the garage and each charged with unlicensed possession of a firearm.
According to court documents, police saw Hollis in a Dodge Charger allegedly fidgeting nervously and placing something on his left side.
Officers searched the car and found a black revolver. Flonory was riding in the back seat of a Honda Accord, in which police found a black semiautomatic handgun.
Neither man has been charged with killing Lee or wounding the other victim.
A manager from the nightclub did not return calls seeking comment.
The shooting sent shockwaves through the local hip-hop community.
Lee is the brother of popular artist Smoke Bulga, whose real name is Allen Keon Lee.
Jamie Lee recently completed a music video for his song “How Ya Living’’ featuring Grammy-nominated rapper Cam’ron and New York rapper Vado.
“This is going to affect a lot of people in the hip-hop community,’’ said Willie “Chubby Chub’’ Sanchez, a disc jockey and radio personality for Hot 97 Boston WPOT-FM.
“He was a rising star. No one wants to see this happen to a young person who’s trying to pursue his career.’’
Police sources said Lee had no history of violence and was not known to run with local gangs. As far as people were aware, he was simply focused on his music. Sanchez, who has known Lee for about eight years, agreed.
“He wasn’t one of those guys that was always at the clubs,’’ Sanchez said. “It was rare that you’d see him partying at a club. He was just focused on music.’’
Geoff “Geespin’’ Gamere, a disc jockey and personality on Jam’n 94.5 WJMN-FM in Boston, met Lee in 2007, when he followed his older brother into the studio to appear on his radio show. Gamere said he was instantly taken by the young man’s talent.
“I basically just opened up the mic for Smoke to do his thing, and then this young kid that I never heard of just laid down some legendary verses,’’ Gamere said.
At Boston Municipal Court yesterday, Hollis was handcuffed, in a white jumpsuit.
Flonory’s attorney, James M. Doyle, successfully argued that he should not have to appear in the courtroom full of reporters and family members.
Hollis’s attorney, James Greenberg of Boston, said his client was friends with Lee and urged authorities to quickly test his clothes and the gun found on him to prove he is not the killer. Police are testing both guns.
“He had nothing to do with the killing or the shooting,’’ Greenberg said in an interview. “He knew the victim and was friendly with him.’’
Flonory is a known gang member with a lengthy criminal record, according to a police source with direct knowledge of the situation. Flonory’s sister — Eyanna Flonory, 21, of Dorchester — was one of four people gunned down in the Sept. 28, 2010, Mattapan killings, the source said. The case, in which Eyanna Flonory’s 2-year-old son was killed, was one of the city’s worst multiple homicides in recent memory.
Hollis was ordered held on $10,000 bail. Flonory’s bail was set at $25,000, but he was held on a probation detainer resulting from previous convictions.
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