S. Samuel
Days after the tragic passing of Violator Management founder Chris Lighty, the late music mogul's brother Dave Lighty and longtime friend Russell Simmons have questioned the validty of the suicide reports.
Dave Lighty said he could not see his brother pulling the trigger and ending his life.
“I’m surprised, shocked, and lost at this moment. I want the truth to come out. This isn’t my brother. My brother was a strong person, is a strong person. Nothing is adding up. I can’t get a direct answer from anybody…I understand there’s a process to be followed. I can’t even get clear answers from people I think I should be getting clear answers from… I just want to know what really happened to my brother. If he did take his own life, all right, I just wish he could have reached out and spoken to us. We were all here for him. I just want the truth. The truth.” (Fox 5 News)
Simmons shared a similar sentiment and questioned the suicide reports.
“I don’t think Chris Lighty killed himself. His brother Dave, wants an investigation and so do I. Nothing’s adding up… http://bit.ly/PHt86Q,” he tweeted August 31st. (Russell Simmons’ Twitter)
Reports claim an argument with his wife may have contributed to Lighty’s death.
According to the New York Daily News, sources say Lighty killed himself after an argument with his wife, Veronica, who filed for divorce last year. “I’m tired of this,” Lighty is reported to have said before shooting himself in the head. (The New York Police Department could not confirm this information with MTV News.) Law enforcement sources also told the Daily News that Lighty’s wife told police that her husband had acquired a sizable tax debt totaling $5 million, though the Associated Press reports that Lighty had paid most of it off, owing only $330,000 in state and federal taxes. (MTV)
Hours after the shooting, reports started circulating online centered on hip-hop’s loss.
According to law enforcement, 44-year-old Lighty’s body was found by police around 11:30 AM in the backyard of his Bronx apartment. Lighty was pronounced dead on the scene, where a semi-automatic firearm was recovered. The death is being investigated as a possible suicide. According to sources close to Lighty, the hip hop mogul had been in an argument with his ex-wife and shot himself in the head. We’re told the couple got divorced last year and Lighty hadn’t been the same since. (TMZ)
