Grammy award-winning rapper Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr.
, best best known by his stage name T.I., and also by his alter ego T.I.P., was arrested by ATF agents around 2:3o p.m. - just hours before he was set to perform at the BET Hip Hop Awards in downtown Atlanta on October 13. He was charged with possessing unregistered machine guns and silencers.
A federal search warrant was executed at Harris' home in southwest Atlanta. The Special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) spent more than four hours at his home collecting boxes and bags of evidence yesterday afternoon.
Agents said Harris had three machine guns and two silencers delivered to him and three guns were found in his vehicle.
And The U.S. Attorney said Harris should not possess any firearms because he was convicted on felony drug charges in 1998.
T.I., the 27-year-old Atlanta-based rapper, who led the pack with nine nominations, including CD of the Year, Lyricist of the Year and MVP of the Year, now is in big trouble.
You can see the video of 'Feds Search Home of Well-known Atlanta Rapper T.I.' at FOX 5.
Source: Well-known Rapper T.I. Arrested in Atlanta @ FOX 5
Update: Source: T.I. Didn't Do It! @ TMZ
A source close to embattled rapper T.I. says that the gun charges leveraged against the hip-hopper are false; T.I. never tried to purchase guns -- it was all his bodyguard.
The source told MediaTakeOut.com that "[The bodyguard] asked T.I. for an advance on his [pay] and T.I. gave it to him. ...Whatever he spent money on -- whether it be guns, drugs, or formula for his children -- T.I. had nothing to do with it." That's it, he was buying formula!
And those guns found in T.I.'s house? "T.I. has security that lives with him and stay with him at all times. The gun that the [federal agents] found belonged to his security team" -- all of whom are licensed to carry them, the source claims.