CHICAGO -- Police Wednesday were questioning three men in the slaying of the tour manager of the Grammy award-winning group Boyz II Men, who was shot and killed in a hotel where rap star Hammer also was staying after a Chicago area concert.
Roderick 'Khalil' Rountree, 36, of Canoga Park, Calif., was shot and killed Monday during a struggle with three men at an elevator at the Guest Quarters Suites Hotel in the posh neighborhood Streeterville, where the rhythm and blues a cappella group was staying.
Rountree and an assistant, Qadree El-Amin, 28, were confronted by the three men at an elevator and were shot, El-Amin told police.
Rountree was hit numerous times and killed. El-Amin was wounded in the knee and was in fair condition Wednesday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
'Khalil was just explaining to me that he caught three guys trying to get in his room and we were going to try to take them downstairs to the security,' El-Amin said. 'That's when they started swinging and they started firing.'
El-Amin said it is possible the three men, described as being clean- cut, knew Rountree handled large sums of money since he cashed checks for performers while on tour. However, most of Rountree's cash was gone since performers already had been paid.
Police Tuesday issued an all-points bulletin for three men and said the trio was in custody and being questioned late Tuesday and Wednesday.
Police released few details about the men.
Boyz II Men, who with R&B group Jodeci, was touring with rap star Hammer, took time off from the tour to attend Rountree's funeral.
'Khalil was more than just our tour manager. He was a father figure and friend to us,' the group said in a statement.
Hammer, in a statement, said he was 'shocked and outraged at the violence' and said he hoped those reponsible were found quickly.
Michael Mitchell, a spokesman for Motown Records, the label on which Boyz II Men record, said members of the group always had been good at avoiding trouble.
'Some rap and R&B and rock groups have seedy characters that hang around with them on the road but Boyz II Men were not that kind of a group at all and that's why it really stuns us,' Mitchell said.
