Los Angeles Police said late Tuesday the killer of Atlanta rapper Dolla acted alone, though they wouldn’t confirm whether Monday’s shooting stemmed from a recent brawl at an Atlanta strip club.
Snellville resident Aubrey Louis Berry, 23, is being held on $1 million bail, charged with murdering Dolla, born Roderick Anthony Burton II, outside the Beverly Center Mall in West Hollywood, Calif., Monday afternoon.
The Los Angeles Times, citing anonymous police sources, reports the shooting may have stemmed from a fightl at Platinum 21 Adult Entertainment on Piedmont Road in Atlanta.
Joseph Green, who works at the club, said late Tuesday that an LAPD detective interviewed another Platinum 21 employee, “Bull” Shaw, earlier Tuesday regarding a fight at the club. Shaw could not be reached for comment.
“I know there wasn’t [a fight] May 13,” Green said, disputing the Times report placing Dolla and Berry at the club that night. “But there may have been one the week before.”
Green said he did not know either Burton or Berry, and a Los Angeles Police spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the interview with Shaw took place.
The rapper’s family is also looking for answers.
“As far as we know [Dolla] had no idea it was coming,” said Burton’s stepfather, George Viera. He’s been married to Dolla’s mother, Dawnee Robinson Viera, for three years.
The rapper’s family, including sisters Divinity Burton, 22, and Sadenicole Burton, 20, gathered at the Viera’s southwest Atlanta home Tuesday to plan Dolla’s funeral, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Murray Brothers Funeral Home. A memorial service, also at Murray Brothers, will be held at 6 p.m., Friday, Viera said.
They learned of Burton’s shooting from his longtime girlfriend, Crystal Jackson, a Los Angeles native and student at Clark Atlanta University. Dolla was planning a birthday party for Jackson, whom he had dated for at least three years, Viera said.
“They [Dolla, Atlanta rapper D. J. Shabbazz and cousin Will Robinson, stage name Scrapp DeLeon] had just come out of P.F. Chang’s,” Viera said. “They heard gunfire and started running.”
Burton was shot in the back, his stepfather said: “The bullet pierced his heart.”
Dolla was like a son, Viera said, and nothing like the stereotype often attached to rappers. “It was a character he played,” he said. “To us he was just Roddy. When he was home, you couldn’t pry him away. Loved to play with his nieces and nephews, loved to play on the Wii.”
He was nearing completion of his first album, “Another Day, Another Dolla’,” Viera said, but had other plans far outside show business.
“He wanted to go to theology school,” he said. “He was very interested in religion. People think rapper, they think hard, but he wasn’t that way.”
But according to a bio on his official MySpace page. Dolla was familiar with street life.
He sold drugs when he was just 10 years old to support his family. When he was five, Dolla writes, he witnessed his father’s suicide.
He addressed his father’s death and his own mortality in one of his songs, “Rainy Nights”: “Papa died at 25 so he must have been great, they say the good die young, I guess I’m on my way.”
Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who gave Dolla his start modeling Sean John apparel, was among those who sent condolences, via Twitter, to Burton’s family. Ironically, Dolla had just opened his own Twitter account on Monday, a few hours before his death.
“RIP Dolla,” Combs wrote. “God bless his family! He was a good kid! You will be missed player. Don’t take life for granted people!”
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