Man killed on Vegas strip identified as rapper Kenny Clutch

LAS VEGAS -- A rapper from Oakland who was killed in a shooting and fiery crash Thursday on the Las Vegas Strip glorified the gangsta lifestyle in his videos, but family and associates say Ken Cherry was nothing like the image he portrayed.

 

Cherry, 27, who rapped under the name Kenny Clutch, died after someone in a black Range Rover shot at him about 4:20 a.m. Thursday on the Las Vegas Strip, police said. The shooting started a chain-reaction crash in which two others were killed and six were wounded, police said.

Two men in a black Range Rover shot Cherry as he drove a gray Maserati down Las Vegas Boulevard early Thursday, police said.

After he was shot, Cherry accelerated down the street and sped through a red light, striking a cab at the intersection of Flamingo Road. The cab burst into flames, killing the cabdriver and a female passenger, police said.
The Clark County Coroner's Office hasn't identified the cabdriver and the woman passenger. Family members identified the driver as Michael Boldon, 62, a Michigan native who moved to Vegas about 1 1/2 years ago, and the passenger as Washington state resident Sandi Sutton.Three more cars and a utility truck collided at the crossroads, which is home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally's, leaving six other people injured as the Range Rover sped off, police said.

The crumpled gray Maserati came to rest several feet away from the incinerated taxi. Cherry was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police said previously that they believe the violence was prompted by an earlier altercation at a hotel. Authorities are still searching for the Range Rover with dark tinted windows and custom rims that set off the fiery crash. Police said a passenger in the Maserati was cooperating with the investigation.

Clutch had three children.