Rapper SpotemGottem is shot in hip on I-95. Car he was driving is riddled by bullets, FHP says
A young Jacksonville rapper who was arrested in South Florida two months ago in connection with a South Beach assault, was shot in the hip while driving on I-95 in Miami early Friday morning. A passenger in the rear seat was shot in both legs, police said.
The injuries could have been much worse: The Dodge Charger being driven by rapper SpotemGottem was riddled with 22 bullet holes, according to Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Alejandro Camacho.
“He said a car pulled up next to him and he heard gunshots,” said Camacho.
Investigators couldn’t provide any information on the other vehicle, Camacho said.
The two injured men were transported to Aventura Hospital.
The rapper’s lawyer, Raven Liberty, told the Miami Herald on Friday afternoon that he had surgery and was in stable condition.
“He is alive, most importantly,” she said, adding: “This was not a shootout. He was a victim of a drive-by shooting.”
Camacho said the musician was driving south on I-95 just north of the 125th Street exit, when he was shot at about 3:19 a.m. The FHP lieutenant said he pulled over and called law enforcement.
The shooting wasn’t the only one that happened early Friday. In Pembroke Pines, a man was hospitalized after he was shot in a parking lot at about 3 a.m. The body of a man was also discovered on the street in Hallandale Beach early Friday; how he died was not made public but police said foul play was suspected.
It was not clear if any of the cases were linked to the rapper’s shooting.
SpotemGottem, a 19-year-old rapper whose real name is Nehemiah Lamar Harden, was arrested in an Aventura hotel room in July by U.S. Federal Marshals for his alleged part in an assault case involving a deadly weapon in South Beach a month earlier.
Police said Harden and others pulled up to a garage attendant to dispute an $80 fee and Harden, while seated in the backseat of a Dodge Charger, pointed a gun with a laser at the employee. The rapper was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and accessory after the fact.
He’s pleaded not guilty. Harden is signed with Geffen Records and is best known for his 2020 single “Beat Box,” which almost cracked the top 10 of the Billboard 100.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 3:42 PM.
