The Houston-area man accused of murdering Migos rapper Takeoff last fall was indicted Thursday by a Harris County grand jury, court records show.
The indictment means Patrick Clark, 33, of Channelview, has been formally charged with murder in the Nov. 1 shooting death of Takeoff, the 28-year-old musician from Georgia whose real name was Kirsnick Khari Ball. Clark was arrested by Houston police in December and released from jail in January on a $1 million bond.
“Today’s action by the grand jury is not unexpected,” Clark’s defense attorney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, said in a statement Thursday. “We would ask people to remember that getting an indictment requires a very, very minimal standard of proof. When we get inside a courtroom and in front of a jury, where we will be able to put on our evidence and cross-examine the state’s witnesses – where the standard of proof is guilt beyond reasonable doubt – we expect the jury will come back with a verdict of not guilty.”
Houston police have said Takeoff, part of the Atlanta-based rap trio Migos along with relatives Quavo and Offset, was an innocent bystander and unarmed when he was fatally shot in the back and head after a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston during the early hours of Nov. 1. Two other people also were injured at the time and transported to hospitals.
Clark, who has no prior criminal convictions in Harris County, is accused of firing multiple gunshots into a crowd and fatally striking Takeoff, according to court records. Police have said they identified Clark as the suspected shooter by using surveillance footage, cell phone videos and fingerprints from a wine bottle he is alleged to have held during the shooting and then discarded at the nearby House of Blues.
Clark’s bail was originally set at $2 million, but his defense counsel successfully argued to have the amount reduced by half. As part of his bond conditions, Clark is required to remain under continuous house arrest – with the exception of doctor and dentist appointments and to meet with his attorneys and bail bonds company – and wear a GPS monitoring device “with the capability of notifying the court, law enforcement, Harris County Pretrial Services, defense counsel, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office immediately upon any potential violation, including but not limited to device tampering, failure to properly charge the device, or house arrest violations.”
– Written by Adam Zuvanich