UPDATE: Rapper Bun B shoots armed robber in his home; he and wife safe
Published 1:59 pm Wednesday, April 24, 2019
HOUSTON — Port Arthur native and Houston rapper Bernard “Bun B” Freeman and his wife Queenie were safe Wednesday morning after an armed, masked man broke into their Houston home Tuesday.
Freeman’s lawyer, Charles Adams, was at the scene afterward and detailed the couple’s dangerous encounter that began with a knock at the door to their three-story home in a gated community around 5:45 p.m.
Queenie, he said, was expecting a package from Amazon, and when she opened the door an armed masked man forced his way inside and put a gun to her head.
The home has a living room and commons area on the second floor and the intruder insisted she take him upstairs.
She refused believing he was there to cause harm to her husband so she offered her car keys as a way to save her husband, he said.
Bun B, hearing the commotion, “ran to engage the invader and, in an effort to protect his wife and home, a gun battle ensued between the two men,” Adams said.
“Shots were fired by both men and the suspect was shot in the shoulder and he fled from the home.”
The rapper gave chase and unmasked the man who eventually got away but showed up later at Pearland Medical Center.
A Houston Police Department media spokesperson said the man was detained and positively identified as the suspect, Demonte Jackson, 20. He was charged with two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and one count of burglary.
“This story is horrible but a testament to their love and courage and all they did to protect each other,” Adams said.
They are asking the media to allow them to heal from this traumatic incident, he added.
Adams, a former police officer and longtime attorney, said he doesn’t believe the family was targeted.
Bun B is a Port Arthur native and was one half of Underground Kingz (UGK) along with Chad “Pimp C” Butler and were featured on hits by other artists including “Big Pimpin’” by Jay-Z, and “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” by Three 6 Mafia, according to the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
By 2005 each man released his own solo record — Bun’s, called “Trill,” opened at No. 6 on the Billboard Top 200 in the early 2000s and peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s top R&B/Hip-hop.
They went on to make more music together until Pimp C died in 2007 from an accidental promethazine/codeine syrup overdose combined with sleep apnea.
Bun has had success as a solo artist and has worked with some of the big names in the industry.
In addition he has served as a distinguished lecturer at Rice University and taught a course there. He also led a charge to help raise funds for Hurricane Harvey relief.