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DaBaby had previously claimed that the 19-year-old man he killed in 2018 was done in self-defense, and the rapper has stuck to that story ever since. Now, newly-released footage from the incident in question tells a different story.
According to a video Rolling Stone published on Sunday night, April 24, DaBaby appeared to be the aggressor in the incident which occurred at the Walmart in Charlotte that resulted in the death of Jaylin Craig. The video shows the Charlotte, N.C. native making the first move by lunging at Craig's friend Henry Douglas, who claimed that the "Bestie" rapper started the fight after he seemed annoyed that Craig and Douglas recognized him.
“That’s what eventually started it; when he took it the wrong way,” Douglas told Rolling Stone. “We were trying to see who you are, and he took it as somebody is looking at him with a problem.”
Douglas said that he and Craig were shopping at the Walmart when they spotted him. The victim's best friend did say that they were looking at him in order to see if it was actually the rapper or not. DaBaby, born Jonathan Kirk, told authorities at the time that both Douglas and Henry were staring at him. Because he was with his family, Kirk assumed the worst which led to the altercation. Craig's family also offered their side of the story following their son's death. They claim police involved with the case "swept it up under the rug."
“This is stressing me out right now because every time you turn on the radio, you hear him,” Craig's father Curtis said. “You can’t even listen to the radio. I think about my son constantly. We all are going through the same stuff. Every time we talk about it, we think we are getting somewhere, and nobody is trying to help us. Every lawyer we talked to, they look into this case [and say] ‘OK, we are going to get back with you.’ We don’t hear nothing [back].”
The rapper was never charged with Craig's death. Instead, he was convicted of a misdemeanor charge against him for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. He was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation with a suspended 30-day jail sentence. Since the footage surfaced, DaBaby appeared to comment on the matter without mentioning the deceased's name.
"The n****s preying on me can’t f**k wit the people praying for me!" DaBaby tweeted. He followed up by posting a video of Tyrese crying into the camera. "No disrespect to my boy Tyrese but damn bruh😂 What more do you want from meeee?"
"Like damn bruh,” he continued in an Instagram Story. “N****s done took 30 million from me , lie on me once a week, want my fine ass BM’s to hate me , want me to lose fights I don’t start , WHAT MORE DO U WANT FROM MEEE?”