Rapper DaBaby questioned, released in Miami Beach shooting
Grammy-nominated rapper DaBaby was released after being questioned about a shooting in Miami's South Beach on Memorial Day that left two people wounded and a member of the entertainer's entourage under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder, according to police.
The shooting capped a violent holiday weekend across Miami-Dade County that included two mass shootings, in which four people were killed and more than 30 injured.
The South Beach shooting erupted at about 11:30 p.m. on Monday outside the popular Prime 112 steakhouse on Ocean Drive, the main drag in the oceanside tourist mecca, police said.
Witnesses described a barrage of gunfire they said sounded like a war zone.
"It might have been a gun battle because it was like, 'boom, boom, boom, boom boom,' just nonstop. Then it died out, and like five minutes later, again, 'boom, boom, boom, boom,'" Dimitri James, who lives near the shooting scene, told ABC affiliate station WPLG-TV in Miami.
The shooting occurred after a verbal altercation on the street, according to the Miami Police Department.
Officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired and found two injured men. Police said one of the shooting victims was in critical condition and paralyzed, while the other was treated for a bullet wound to the leg and discharged.
The names of the two wounded men were not released.
Several people in the area at the time of the shooting were detained for questioning, including DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, 29, police said.
The rapper was released after being questioned, police said.
A police report obtained by WPLG said one of the people arrested was Wisdom Awute, 21, a rapper and member of DaBaby's entourage. A second person under arrest was identified by police as Christopher Urena, 29, of Davie, Florida, officials said.
Both men are charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a firearm. Urena faces additional charges of grand theft and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Immediately following the shooting, Urena allegedly attempted to steal a car that was in the valet area of Prime 112 and tried to flee the scene but was quickly stopped by police. Urena denied attempting to steal the car and said he was just trying to move it from blocking the restaurant's valet area, police said.
The shooting came amid a surge in gun violence in Miami between Thursday and Monday.
Two people were killed and 21 were injured, three critically, in a mass shooting early Sunday outside a banquet hall in suburban Miami that was rented out for a concert featuring local rappers, police said. No arrests were made in the shooting.
Security video released by police showed three masked gunmen, armed with high-powered rifles and handguns, pull up to the El Mula banquet hall in Hialeah in a stolen SUV, open fire on the crowd outside the venue and then flee in the vehicle, which was later found submerged in a canal, police said.
On Friday, one person was killed and six were injured in a drive-by shooting in Miami's Wynwood arts district. No suspects have been arrested.
