Charlotte rapper DaBaby arrested on gun charges in Beverly Hills, Calif., cops say

Joe Marusak

Charlotte rapper DaBaby was arrested on gun charges in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Thursday, police said.

DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, Acting Captain Max Subin of the Beverly Hills Police Department said Friday.

A security guard at a Gucci store on Rodeo Drive called 911 about a man who had a gun in his waistband in the store, Subin told The Charlotte Observer in an email.

The man left the store and was walking with a group on Rodeo Drive, the guard told police, according to Subin.

“The group of males returned to a vehicle and were detained at 4:45 pm.,” Subin said in the email. “During the course of the investigation, Jonathan Kirk, a 29-year-old from Charlotte, NC, was arrested. The other subjects that were with Kirk were detained and released at the scene.”

Kirk was released from the Beverly Hills Police Department on a $35,000 bond, according to Subin. He faces a March 25 appearance at the Los Angeles County Superior Court Airport Courthouse.

DaBaby hasn’t commented on social media about the arrest.

The rapper was nominated in November for four 2021 Grammy Awards. The ceremony is scheduled to air on March 14.

Although he was nominated last year as well, DaBaby has never won a Grammy.

Charlotte rapper DaBaby was nominated in November for four 2021 Grammy Awards. The ceremony is scheduled to air on March 14.
Charlotte rapper DaBaby was nominated in November for four 2021 Grammy Awards. The ceremony is scheduled to air on March 14.

Prior gun charge against rapper

As his musical star has risen, DaBaby has faced other criminal charges.

He was arrested on a weapons charge in connection to a fatal shooting in a North Carolina Walmart in November 2019. In June 2020, a Mecklenburg County District Court judge found him guilty of the misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a DA’s office spokeswoman told the Observer at the time. He was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation.

The charge came in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jalyn Domonique Craig of Charlotte during a fight in the Walmart on Bryton Town Center Drive in Huntersville on Nov. 5, 2018.

In an obscenity-laced video on YouTube two days after the shooting, DaBaby said he was in the store shopping with his 1- and 5-year-old children and their mother when someone pulled a gun “and tried to take my life,” the Observer previously reported.

“Daughter could have got hit, son could have got hit (and) me,” DaBaby said in the video. “Lawyers ... telling me not to say nothing... But two (people) walk down on you and your whole...family, threatening y’allya’ll, whip out (a gun) on y’allya’ll, let me see what y’allya’ll going to do.”

Charlotte rapper DaBaby faces gun charges in Beverly Hills, Calif. A Gucci store security guard saw man with gun in waistband, police said.
Charlotte rapper DaBaby faces gun charges in Beverly Hills, Calif. A Gucci store security guard saw man with gun in waistband, police said.

Marijuana arrest prompts internal CMPD investigation

On Dec. 23, 2019, DaBaby was cited with a misdemeanor marijuana charge by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police after he performed at Bojangles Coliseum. Following the arrest, the police department was accused of potential racial profiling.

Then, DaBaby told reporters that police officers “absolutely” targeted him and “unlawfully searched” his car once he finished performing, the Observer previously reported.

“Black Excellence right here in our own city, (and) they hate it,” DaBaby tweeted the following day.

The incident prompted a CMPD Internal Affairs investigation and raised new concerns about harsher penalties for African Americans and minority residents — compared to their white counterparts — when it comes to marijuana arrests, the Observer reported.

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