Rapper Named in Stabbing

Santa Monica police named a young rap entertainer Tuesday as the suspect in a stabbing during a melee at the Vibe music awards.

David Darnell Brown, 23, was sought in the attack Monday night on Jimmy James Johnson, 26, of Los Angeles, who remained in stable condition Tuesday, police said.

Brown is better known to rap fans as Young Buck, a member of the G Unit, a rap collective that has been among the hottest names in pop music. In August, he stepped from the G Unit ranks to release his own album.

Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega said that Brown’s last known address was in Nashville and that the performer had been arrested several times there for minor offenses.

Police said chaos erupted at the hip-hop ceremony in a hangar at Santa Monica Airport after Johnson approached rap pioneer Dr. Dre at a front table, asked for an autograph and then punched him in the face.

A tape being made for broadcast on UPN showed that as security personnel tried to move the attacker away, several people nearby started throwing chairs and a shoving match began rippling through the audience of about 1,000.

According to police, one of three men seen holding knives in the video was Brown, who then lunged at Johnson’s upper body.

As police officers summoned reinforcements, the stabbing suspect slipped away. The second annual award show was halted while officers from Santa Monica and neighboring cities swarmed the building and used Mace to quell the crowd. Officers said order returned quickly and the award ceremony finished up.

Fabrega said detectives were trying to identify the two others brandishing knives. He asked anyone with information on the suspects to call police at (310) 458-8451.