Hours before he was to go on stage at the BET Hip Hop Awards, T.I. was arrested in a parking lot where federal officials said he was going to pick up machine guns and silencers his bodyguard had purchased for him.
T.I., born Clifford Harris, is charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Harris was in federal custody, said U.S. attorney's office spokesman Patrick Crosby, who would not disclose his location.
The arrest resulted from an investigation that began this month. A federal firearms dealer told the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that a man was inquiring about buying a machine gun without registering the weapon as required, according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. READ MORE
Even though he was present at the Civic Center, he became noticeably absent from the red carpet activities.
