New video footage reveals DaBaby as likely instigator in 2018 fatal shooting
The rapper fatally shot Jaylin Craig in a North Carolina Walmart in November 2018, claiming self-defense.
New video footage of a 2018 shooting involving DaBaby has surfaced, casting doubt on the rapper’s claims that he shot and killed Jaylin Craig in a North Carolina Walmart in self-defense.
In November 2018, DaBaby says that he was threatened with a gun by two young men, Craig and his friend Henry Douglas, while shopping at a Walmart in Huntersville, North Carolina.
DaBaby, born Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was with his then-partner and two kids at the time. He said he fatally shot Craig to protect himself and his family.
The new footage, obtained by Rolling Stone, shows that it was DaBaby who was the instigator in the initial altercation. The video shows DaBaby throwing the first punch at Douglas before the two begin tussling. Douglas said DaBaby was upset that he and Craig recognized him and asked the two to take things outside.
Craig, wearing a Black hoodie, is shown approaching DaBaby and Douglas as they continued to fight inside the store. DaBaby then shot Craig off camera.
Days later, DaBaby posted on his Instagram Live to address the incident, implying that Douglas and Craig pulled a gun on him at the Walmart. While Craig did have a gun on him at the time of the incident, it could not be determined whether or not he brandished the weapon during the altercation.
In January 2019, just weeks after the shooting, DaBaby signed a lucrative major label deal with Interscope Records.
The “Suge” rapper was not prosecuted for killing Craig but was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in 2019. He received a suspended jail sentence and 12 months probation.
Craig’s mother, LaWanda Horsley, feels the investigation into the shooting was treated as an afterthought. “I feel like they just swept it up under the rug,” Horsley told Rolling Stone. “[DaBaby] knows what he did. I’m not doing this for no fame or anything, because at the end of the day, Jaylin Craig is gone.”
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