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Fire In Da House
Fifty Cent’s $2.4 million home in Dix Hills, N.Y. – a house in the middle of a dispute between the rapper and his ex-girlfriend – burned to the ground early May 30th in what the local fire chief deemed a suspicious fire.
Ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins, their 10-year-old son, Marquis, and four others were rescued from an elevated deck in the house’s back yard by a passing off-duty policeman. They were taken to a hospital after suffering smoke inhalation and later released.
Fifty Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, doesn’t live in the home and wasn’t there at the time of the fire.
The fire was reported at 4:59 a.m. and was extinguished about 45 minutes later. After the fire was assessed as suspicious by the Dix Hills fire chief, investigators from the Suffolk County arson squad came to the scene and finished their work six hours after the blaze.
Although Tompkins claimed Jackson bought the house for her and her son after promising her a house more than 10 years ago, the rapper said it was his. In April, a Suffolk housing court judge ordered Tompkins evicted, but after Tompkins sued Jackson for breach of contract in May, a judge stayed her eviction, saying she offered "sufficient facts to support her claim," according to New York’s Newsday.
According to court documents reported by the paper, when Tompkins was in college and Jackson was unemployed, the couple agreed that Tompkins would support the rapper while he pursued his recording career under the condition that Jackson would "share in all his earnings equally."
"Everything that’s his is hers, everything that’s hers is his. He memorialized in an e-mail that he intended to give her the house," Tompkins lawyer Paul Catsandonis said.
Jackson tried to go back on his word in 2005, according to court documents, when he "violently assaulted" Tompkins by "grabbing her hair, pushing her to the floor, and choking her" to force her to sign a release from any claim to his autobiographical film, "Get Rich or Die Trying."
Tompkins claims that Jackson was involved in the blaze because a day earlier, she had presented evidence in court to support her claim to the house.
"Now mysteriously, the house gets burned down to the ground," Tompkins told the paper. "I know this came from 50 Cent. I know he did it."
An attorney for Jackson said the rapper was in Louisiana filming a movie at the time of the fire.
"Any suggestion that Mr. Jackson had anything whatsoever to do with the fire at his house is outrageous and offensive," 50 Cent attorney Brett Kimmel told Newsday.
"I’m going to fight him to the end," Tompkins said. "This gives me more of a drive. I’m more determined than ever."
Arson detectives said that the fire investigation is still in the early stages.
One of Jackson’s employees was arrested May 27th for allegedly choking a woman and striking her with a belt.
Dwayne McKenzie, 27, was charged with assault, strangulation, breach of peace and unlawful restraint. He was released after posting $10,000 bond and is due back in court July 15th.