Last month, celebrity chef Geoff Cole took to social media to commend Troy Ave for his heroism, claiming that he could have saved his life during an attempted robbery. He shared surveillance footage of the two of them getting out of a vehicle at night and an unknown man coming out of an alley to sneak up on them. Once he spotted the man, Troy Ave appeared to allegedly pull out a gun and fire multiple shots in the wannabe robber's direction.
"I came home after Celebrating the success of a sold out Chef Fest with Love & support from all over the West Coast! And a hater from the SAME CITY tried 2 take it all away!" he wrote at the time. "This the 2nd time but it WON’T be a 3rd! s/o 2 my BROTHER Ave for Holding it Down in a situation where most woulda RAN or FOLDED 💪🏽 ‼️."
"I’ll never let the hate stop Me from showing LOVE!" Cole also added. "Ima keep giving artists OPPORTUNITIES & PLATFORMS, Ima Keep Gettin MONEY 💰. And the ONLY thing im doing different now, is taking this SHOW ON THE ROAD‼️."
It didn't take long for the whole thing to get debunked, however.
Troy Ave Shooting
Just as news of the ordeal began to make its rounds online, TMZ spoke to sources that had been in direct contact with both Troy Ave and Cole. Reportedly, the whole thing was a hoax, and there was never actually an attempted robbery or a shooting.
Now, the outlet has confirmed that authorities have closed the case. The San Diego County Sheriff's Office tells them that the incident was "not substantiated."
As for Troy Ave, he denies having anything to do with the apparent hoax. He claimed in a post of his own that he didn't know what Cole was talking about, though sources told TMZ that the two of them were in on it together.
