Yesterday morning, notorious rapper Proof – a member of hip hop group D12 and one of Eminem’s closest friends – was killed in a nightclub on the famed Eight Mile stretch.

Proof, whose real is Deshaun Holton, was shot in the head at the CCC club while another man was critically injured in a gunfire row. The men were taken to hospital by private vehicles however Holton was pronounced dead on arrival.

Eight Mile road is the line dividing Detroit’s inner city suburbs and its wealthier suburbs and was more recently made famous from Eminem’s biopic 8 Mile. It is said that the bar in which Holton was murdered has been a constant source of problems on the city’s east side and was operating outside its licensed hours on the night of the incident.

Holton, who was a talented rapper in his own right, was the instigator behind D12 and riding high on Eminem’s success, the group rose to fame and sold over 4 million copies of their 2001 debut album ‘Devil’s night’. Holton, himself embarked on a solo album called ‘Searching for Jerry Garcia’ that was released last year.