Newly-posted security video appears to contradict rapper DaBaby’s claim that he acted in self defence when he shot and killed Jaylin Craig in 2018.
Rolling Stone said Sunday that the video it obtained “raises doubts” about what really happened inside a Walmart in North Carolina.
DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, was not charged with killing Craig. The rapper told police he pulled out his Glock and fired it at the 19-year-old because he felt threatened.
DaBaby was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and sentenced to 12 months of probation with a suspended jail sentence.
According to the video shared by Rolling Stone, DaBaby “appears to be the initial aggressor in the situation.”
DaBaby has not responded publicly to the newly-released video.
Only days after killing Craig, he released a video for “No Tears” that opens with clips of news coverage of the shooting. “Any n***a touch me, catch a body like Boosie,” he raps. “Try me, I’m shootin’. No back and forth, just up it, I’m blowin’.”
In his 2020 hit “Rockstar,” DaBaby boasts about how his infant daughter witnessed the shooting. “My daughter a G / she saw me kill a n***a in front of her before the age of two,” he raps.
DaBaby is in the May 22 line-up of the Metro Metro festival in Montreal but his conviction on the weapons charge could make him inadmissible to Canada.
The rapper was arrested in 2021 in Beverly Hills and charged with possession of a loaded weapon. A year earlier, he was arrested in Miami and charged with battery.
Last year, he was slapped with a lawsuit alleging that he assaulted and robbed a man who rented him a house. He was also sued in 2020 by a man alleging assault.