Atlanta Police have arrested seven gang members in connection with the shooting death of two teenagers last summer in Oakland City.
Jakody Davis and Lamon Freeman, both 13, were outside their apartment on Sparks Street for Freeman’s birthday when they were caught in gunfire between rival gang members. Davis’ younger brother was also shot but survived his injuries.
The incident allegedly stemmed from gang violence connected to a music video shoot by Atlanta rapper Lil Baby, whose real name is Dominique Jones.
Atlanta Police Department officials declined to name Jones during a Feb. 26 press conference in the neighborhood where the July 2, 2024 shooting took place. However, Jones is named in arrest warrants of the seven individuals now charged with murder.
APD Maj. Ralph Woolfolk said the teens’ deaths were due to the “cowardly acts of an Atlanta-based rapper who decided to go over into a rival gang stronghold and shoot a music video in a place that he knew he should not have been.”
During the May 2024 video shoot, three men were shot which led to a war between the Goodfellas street gang and a rival gang that Woolfolk declined to name due to the ongoing investigation.
According to arrest warrants, after the incident at the video shoot, a series of linked aggravated assaults and homicides took place in the following weeks between the two gangs.
Woolfolk said the shooting incident that killed the teens was orchestrated using a contraband cell phone by a gang leader already serving time at Hancock State Prison.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the investigation was aided by the FBI and a series of wiretaps that led to the identities of some of the seven suspects.
The names of those arrested are Quiyontay Sanders, Richard Hollis, Reginald Thomas, Dekeitheon Mobley, Ali Caldwell, Markus Crawford and Tradon Crawford, who are brothers.
Police said additional arrests were forthcoming and that a $50,000 reward for information in the case is still available.
Lil Baby recently released his fourth album, “WHAM,” and announced a world tour slated to begin in June.