Cops have reportedly identified a person of interest in the shooting threat made at the New York City premiere of Surviving R. Kelly.
TMZ reports that cops claim the man in question allegedly made the phone call from a Chicago telephone number, but it’s unclear if the person identified has any connection to R. Kelly. Law enforcement has yet to release the man’s name.
Surviving R. Kelly, which is described as on Lifetime’s website as a “bombshell documentary series,” is set to premiere January 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT in a three-night event.
During the screening earlier this month however, the screening had only run approximately 30 minutes before someone phoned in with a gun threat.
A rep for Lifetime told ESSENCE that “several anonymous threats were called in” and that the decision to evacuate the premiere was made as a precaution. “The safety and security of our panel, guests and staff is of paramount importance to Lifetime.”
Chance Yeh/Getty Images for A+E
On its website, Lifetime says the docu-series will show “for the first time ever, survivors and people from R. Kelly’s inner circle,” who “are coming forward with new allegations about his sexual, mental, and physical abuse.”
Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, who also opened up earlier this year about the abuse she faced at the hands of the R&B singer, said she believed the person behind the threat was “somebody connected to him.”
“The first thing that came to my mind — and I can’t speak for anyone else — was that [R. Kelly] had this shut down,” she told Rolling Stone.
So far, R. Kelly has remained mum about the incident and allegations from his ex-wife.
