Tony Allen Provoked The Shooting, Says Victim - Shooter Part Of Allen's Entourage

[Steve Ouellette]

Good to see fame and fortune are maturing Tony Allen. Do we have a 
budding Artest on our hands?

Steve O

Way Of The Ray wrote:

>Hat Tip JS
>
>
>http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-celtics02.html
>
>Shooting victim says Celtics player provoked fight 
>
>September 2, 2005 
>
>BY ROMAN MODROWSKI Staff Reporter 
>
>
>Boston Celtics guard and former Crane High School star
>Tony Allen sparked a confrontation that led to the
>shooting of a Hinsdale man last weekend, the victim
>and his attorney claimed Thursday. 
>
>Chicago Police said they want to interview Allen, 23,
>but they are not calling him a suspect. 
>
>Allen's lawyer, Michael Zaslavsky, refused to say when
>his client might talk to detectives. "[Allen] is not a
>suspect," Zaslavsky said. "According to [Thursday's
>Chicago Sun-Times], he's accused of no wrongdoing. But
>if there is an ongoing investigation, I can't comment
>on that." 
>
>Marktwain Johnson, 29, was shot in the left arm and
>left side early Sunday at the White Palace Grill at
>Roosevelt and Canal. Johnson was taken to Stroger
>Hospital, but he since has been released. 
>
>"I was shot at close range,'' Johnson said Thursday in
>a telephone interview. "The doctor said if I didn't
>put my hand up . . . I would have been shot in the
>head." 
>
>Johnson said he didn't know the shooter but would be
>able to recognize him again. The shooter was part of a
>large entourage that accompanied Allen into the
>restaurant, said Johnson's lawyer, Rahsaan A. Gordon. 
>
>'It was close range' 
>
>Gordon said Allen and Johnson engaged in "verbal
>jabbing" and "posturing" months ago. 
>
>Johnson -- and perhaps Allen -- attended a huge
>Saturday night party for Celtics guard Will Bynum at a
>club on Canal, sources said. There are conflicting
>accounts about whether there was a confrontation at
>the gathering. 
>
>Either way, Gordon said Bynum -- Allen's former
>teammate at Crane -- invited Johnson to the White
>Palace for an after-party get-together. Bynum's agent
>did not know whether Bynum was at the grill at the
>time of the shooting, but regardless said he was in no
>way involved. 
>
>Johnson "is inside the restaurant, standing at a
>counter waiting to be seated," Gordon said, adding
>Johnson was with several others. 
>
>"A short time later [around 3:30 a.m.], Tony Allen
>comes in with a large group of 10 to 15 people.
>Immediately when he comes in, he spots Marktwain
>Johnson and he begins to go into his tirade." 
>
>"F--- him up," Allen told the shooter, according to
>Gordon. 
>
>That could not be confirmed with police, who
>interviewed Johnson at the hospital. 
>
>A fight ensued, and some time later "shots rang out,"
>Johnson said. "I knew they were aiming for me. It was
>close range." 
>
>Everyone scattered, but "the police have a pretty good
>picture of who the shooter is," Gordon said. 
>
>Investigators are reviewing video surveillance tapes,
>sources said. 
>
>Contributing: Annie Sweeney, Monifa Thomas and Michael
>O'Brien 
>
>
>
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