DeShaun Dupree Holton, 32, known professionally as the rapper Proof, was killed in the early hours of April 11, 2006, inside the CCC Club on Detroit’s 8 Mile Road after an evening of barhopping with friends. A dispute with Keith Bender Jr., reportedly over a game of pool, escalated into a physical fight and then gunfire. According to the official police account based on witness statements, Holton pistol-whipped Bender and shot him in the head; the club bouncer, Mario Etheridge, who was Bender’s cousin, then fired at Holton. Proof was struck three times and pronounced dead at a nearby outpatient facility. Bender was critically injured and died a week later.

An alternate account from a friend of Holton says Etheridge fired warning shots into the air and that both Holton and Bender were shot during the resulting panic. Etheridge turned himself in and was not charged with murder after prosecutors concluded he lawfully defended another person; he was convicted on weapons charges and received time served plus a $2,000 fine. The CCC Club was closed for one year following the shooting.

If anyone was at the CCC Club that night or has additional details about how the confrontation began, please share what is known.