Rick Ross Was Strapped During Vehicle Ambush

MARCH 20--The rapper Rick Ross had a loaded 9mm handgun in the waistband of his pants when the Rolls Royce he was driving was recently fired upon on a Florida street, The Smoking Gun has learned.

The 37-year-old performer (real name: William Leonard Roberts) was carrying the Smith & Wesson semi-automatic despite having a suspended handgun permit, according to a Fort Lauderdale Police Department report (which was released today after TSG filed an open records request with cops).

It is unclear whether Ross will face a weapons possession charge in connection with the January 28 incident. The “black and chrome” gun seized from the rapper contained 12 live rounds, with one in the chamber and 11 in the magazine, cops noted.

Ross did not attempt to hide the 9mm. Instead, he “freely advised Officers that he had a firearm on his person,” investigators reported.

Cops interviewed Ross shortly after he crashed his vehicle while trying to elude gunfire directed at him. “Fearing for his safety,” Ross accelerated the 2011 Rolls Royce and made a sudden right turn, losing control of the vehicle in the process. Ross, who was traveling with his girlfriend, Shateria Moragne-El, had celebrated his birthday earlier that evening.

While neither Ross nor Moragne-El could provide police with any information “regarding the incident or suspects,” two witnesses in another car told police that an “older model BMW 4 door” pulled up to Ross’s car at an intersection and the occupants of the BMW opened fire on the silver Rolls. The witnesses reported that the BMW had “3 possibly 4 black male occupants.”

Though “multiple spent casings” were recovered by the forensic unit, it does not appear as if Ross’s car was struck by a bullet (though several local businesses were hit by stray gunfire). Nobody, however, was injured during the 5 AM gunplay.

The Fort Lauderdale shooting came in the wake of several death threats directed at Ross by members of the Gangster Disciples, who became angered over the rapper’s purported slights towards the gang and one of its co-founders. In response to the threats, Ross canceled a series of concerts late last year. (3 pages)