Fire Burns Long Island Home Central to 50 Cent Lawsuit
May 30, 2008

After parting ways with Grammy winning rapper 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson), Shaniqua Tompkins and the former couple’s son were hospitalized for smoke inhalation when the Long Island home they were living in burned to the ground early Friday due to what fire officials on the scene describe as a “suspicious” fire. As reported by the Associated Press, the Dix Hills residence, which was the focal point of a bitter dispute between 50 Cent and former flame Shaniqua Tompkins after their split, went up in flames early Friday morning, took 45 minutes to be extinguished, and arson specialists completed their work six hours later.

Although Shaniqua Tompkins and the son of 50 Cent, Marquise, were released from hospital, questions are now arising over how the fire started. Since her split with 50 Cent, Tompkins has always maintained that the rapper promised her the home, which was ongoing source of contention between the two former lovers. As AP reports further, having spoken to Tompkins’ lawyer, in the last few days the dispute over the home had taken another turn and became "extremely, extremely contentious" in a short amount of time that also involved what the AP conversion yields as an "extremely dangerous incident" that went down in his Manhattan office on Monday.

As for 50’s reaction and response, the AP reports that a spokesperson for the rapper revealed that 50 Cent “… is extremely thankful that everyone including his son, Marquise, escaped the burning house safely. He is confident that authorities will be conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and is eager to review their findings."

The investigation into the fire will continue.