Las Vegas Shooting That Killed Rapper Kenny Clutch Also Killed a Grandfather
Taxi driver Michael Boldon was killed when his taxi was hit and caught fire.
Feb. 22, 2013 — -- The Las Vegas shooting that killed rapper Kenny Clutch as he drove his Maserati also killed a grandfather who loved telling stories about the people he picked up in his cab.
The sister of taxi driver Michael Boldon said today that her brother had been driving a passenger in his taxi when the shooting happened early Thursday morning on glitzy Las Vegas Boulevard.
The rapper's expensive sports car careened out of control after he was shot, slamming into several cars, including Boldon's taxi. The impact caused the cab to burst into flames, killing Boldon and a female passenger. Witnesses said it looked like the car exploded.
"He was a number one guy," Carolyn Jean Trimble, Boldon's sister, told ABC News.
"I looked out my window and I could see one vehicle down here on the corner of the intersection totally engulfed in flames," witness John Lamb told ABC News.
Boldon, 62, and his passenger, who has not yet been identified, were both killed, as was the rapper Kenny Clutch, 27, whose real name was Kenneth Cherry Jr.
Timble said her brother loved driving his taxi around Vegas.
"He came to live with me in Las Vegas last year to help take care of our mother, and the first day he got here he said, 'I have to get a job.' The second day, I came home from work, and he said he got a job," she recalled.
"He says, 'You'll never guess what it is,' and I said, 'what,' and he said, 'taxi cab driver,' and we both fell out laughing," Trimble said. "He loved that job. He never complained. He'd come home and tell me stories about what happened, who he picked up."
Boldon was a single father who raised a 36-year-old son and was a new grandfather. His grandson was named after him, Trimble said.
"Of all the people to take from this earth," she said. "But I guess the Lord needed him."
According to cops, a group of men in a black Range Rover fired on the Maserati as they drove down the boulevard following an argument near the valet area of Aria Hotel and Casino. The shooting occurred at 4:20 a.m.
"Clearly, the suspects in this shooting have no regard for the lives and safety of others," Las Vegas Metropolitan Sheriff Doug Gillespie said at a news conference Thursday.
Gillespie said authorities do not know how many people were in the SUV, but that they are considered armed and dangerous.
A passenger in the Maserati was hit and sustained only a minor injury to his arm. Clutch died at University Medical Center.
Authorities in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California are all on alert for the black Range Rover.
Clutch's father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., expressed his grief for the loss of his son while speaking with ABC News.
"This is something you never really, really ever want to experience as a parent, to lose a child before you go," he said.