Tennessee rapper iHeartMemphis livestreams SWAT standoff in Plantation before arrest: "Please save me"
A Tennessee rapper with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media was arrested after a SWAT standoff in Plantation Monday overnight, and he livestreamed the dramatic situation before he was taken into custody.
According to Plantation police, the situation began to unfold in the 8600 block of Gatehouse Road late Monday night.
Richard Maurice Colbert, better known by his stage name iHeartMemphis or iLoveMemphis, has over 700,000 followers on Instagram.
A family member told CBS News Miami that they've been trying to get Colbert help for days. And before the barricaded standoff that he livestreamed, he posted on social media leading up to the incident and showing when welfare officers went to check on him.
Colbert allegedly told the officers that he was God, with another video showing clouds in the sky and him saying that they were spying on him.
Video from the scene showed a garage door and car on its side, as well as glass on the ground after a window was shattered.
"Please, please save me y'all," Colbert is heard saying in the livestream. "I'm begging you. I don't got nothing. I don't want to hurt nobody, y'all."
At one point 20,000 people were watching Colbert's livestream as he barricaded himself inside the home. Colbert rose to fame with his hit song "Hit the Quan" in 2015.
During the video he's heard telling people he didn't want to die, and in another part of the video he's heard speaking with a dog.
Toward the end of the livestream he's seen crouching in the garage and you can see the moment SWAT member move in to arrest him just after 3 a.m.
Plantation police said no injuries were reported, but the Colbert was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Police said he was taken into custody for an active warrant for "written or electronic threats to kill."
The dog that was inside the home was safely removed and released to a family member.
No other information was released.
