Chris Brown out on bail after arrest for assault with deadly weapon
Chris Brown was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon Tuesday, the Los Angeles police department confirmed to USA TODAY.
Brown was "arrested at some point this afternoon," says LAPD detective Meghan Aguilar. Although an exact time was not available, she said Brown was arrested before 5 p.m. The R&B star was booked into an LAPD jail facility before being transferred to county jail and posting bail.
Brown was released on $250,000 bail, NBC News and Entertainment Tonight reported.
Mark Geragos, Brown's attorney, confirmed Brown's release on Twitter.
"Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes," he tweeted. "Chris is out and well. The allegations against him are demonstrably false #TeamBreezy"
LAPD public information Officer Tony Im said Brown was arrested with his lawyer, Mark Geragos, by his side, after a "thorough investigation" that produced "probable cause" for arrest. But Im was unable to detail the circumstances of why Brown was arrested — for instance, did police find a gun at his home? Im said no one else was arrested in the case.
The arrest came after police spent hours outside Brown's house, waiting for a judge to sign a search warrant so they could go inside and investigate a woman's claim that the trouble-plagued singer threatened her with a gun earlier this morning.
The police declined to explain what they were doing at Brown's house except to say that they were called to the sprawling mansion in Tarzana in the San Fernando Valley after a woman, still officially unidentified, reported about 3 a.m. Tuesday that Brown pointed a gun at her inside the house.
The accuser, Baylee Curran, later came forward and told The Los Angeles Times that Brown had pointed a gun at her face after Brown and another man at his home became angry with her when she admired the man's diamond necklace. Curran hasn't responded to requests for comment from the Associated Press.
Shortly before 1 p.m. PT, detectives from the robbery-homicide division entered Brown's house with the warrant after his attorney arrived at the scene. Geragos did not return calls for comment.
About an hour later, Brown came out of his home peacefully, according to the AP. Various media organizations live streaming the scene showed a man in a red baseball cap sitting outside the house on the front walkway and smiling with police, as Geragos paced nearby.
The AP quoted Lt. Chris Ramirez telling reporters at the scene that several people were escorted from the residence after the search warrant was served and that everyone had been cooperative.
Brown's representatives haven't returned calls for comment.
But about 7 a.m. local time, Brown posted three profanity-filled videos of himself on his Instagram account, railing against the police and the media coverage of the activity at his house. He denounced media reports that he was "barricaded" inside his house, complained about the helicopters flying overhead, and called the police "idiots" and "the worst gang in the world."
He said he was "innocent" although he didn't further specify. "What I do care about is you are defacing my name and my character and integrity," he says in one of the videos.
He also took time to urge fans to buy his latest single, Grass Ain't Greener.
Brown's friend Ray J posted his own video on his Instagram page, decrying the "war zone" outside Brown's house.
"I'm real upset about today, I'm not happy with how things are handled and how people can take a false story and blow it up into something way more than it should be," he said to the camera in the video. "You look outside and it's like a war zone for no reason for what some stranger said about something that don't got nothing to do with nothing. To react like that, so fast without really knowing the facts, it's ain't cool, it's just not right, it shouldn't be like this."
Brown has been in and out of legal and police trouble for years, including being charged with felony assault in connection with a brutal attack on his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Only last year, that case was officially closed after a judge ruled he had completed community service obligations as part of his sentence in the case.
Afterwards, Brown tweeted, "IM OFF PROBATION!!!!!!!! Thank the Lord!!!!!!"
As a convicted felon (Brown pleaded guilty), under California's strict gun laws Brown would lose the right to possess a firearm.
Chris Brown's rap sheet continues to grow
More recently, former rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, who's in jail awaiting trial on murder charges, sued Brown and the owners of a popular nightclub in June because he was shot seven times at a 2014 party hosted by Brown.
Brown also was sued in June by his ex-manager, Mike G (real name: Michael Guirguis), who alleges the singer "brutally" attacked him in a "drug-fueled" rage in May, and his injuries sent him to the hospital. No police report was filed.
Although Brown described himself on his Instagram videos as one of the "greatest entertainers out there," his career has slowed somewhat in recent years. His most recent record to chart in the Hot 100, according to Billboard, was Back to Sleep, which peaked at No. 20 back in March. Last fall’s Royalty debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart; it was his best first-week sales since 2011’s F.A.M.E.
Besides his new song last week, Brown has featured on other songs with Kanye West, DJ Khaled and 50 Cent this year. So while he hasn’t had a top 10 hit since 2014 (Loyal), he’s still managed to have a steady career, and hasn't been alienated by other big-name artists.
In July, his Las Vegas residency at Drai's nightclub was put on hold after he posted an Instagram tirade against alleged "racist" employees at the club and refused to apologize.
Contributing: Andrea Mandell