Lil Baby. Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage
In late February, the Atlanta Police Department held a press conference on Sparks Street, a neighborhood in Fulton County. Speaking to the assembled media, they announced the arrests of seven men charged in the July 2, 2024 shooting deaths of two 13-year-old boys, Lamon Freeman and JaKody Davis, at a birthday party for Freeman (a third, Dontavious Davis, was injured). According to police warrants, the two murdered children were innocent victims of ongoing gang violence between the rivals “Only My Family” (OMF) and “Four Pockets Full” (4PF), an organization connected to Dominique Armani Jones, the Atlanta-based rapper known as Lil Baby.
APD Homicide Commander Ralph Woolfolk didn’t identify Lil Baby by name or alias when he spoke. But he did explicitly connect the boys’ deaths to the city’s local rap scene, blaming their murders on “cowardly acts of an Atlanta-based rapper that decided to go over into a rival gang stronghold and shoot a music video in a place where he knew he should not have been,” while emphasizing that the APD “would work relentlessly to hold you and the persons affiliated with responsible for your actions.”
Lil Baby is not charged with any crime, and the warrant does not accuse him of ordering the murders. His connection to the warrants stems from a May 2024 music video shoot in a neighborhood where OMF members are known to reside. Three men were shot that day (Lil Baby was uninjured), and police allege that the incident resulted in a cascade of escalating gang violence culminating in the deaths of Freeman and Davis.
Not long after the press conference, Lil Baby spoke out. Posting on his Instagram Story, he thanked fans for support, saying he was “overly good” and urging them not to listen to “fake news.” Drew Findling and Marissa Goldberg, the rapper’s attorneys, issued a statement calling the APD “unprofessional, unethical, and shameful” and denying their client’s involvement. “To say that he couldn’t shoot a music video in his hometown, a place that he loves and has continued to uplift, is disgraceful. Even more, the location for a major music video shoot is a decision made by a professional team and is not a decision made by any individual.”
4PF was Lil Baby’s label when he began releasing music commercially in 2017; in December 2024, he announced the label would be dissolved in favor of a new imprint called Glass Window Entertainment. The warrant’s mention of Lil Baby comes just months after the state’s RICO case against his friend and collaborator Young Thug and YSL concluded. It raises several questions: Was the press conference an indication that another could be on the way? And could Lil Baby actually be charged for shooting a music video in a neighborhood with rival gang members?
To get clarity, The FADER contacted Melissa Redmon, a former prosecutor and current director of University of Georgia’s Prosecutorial Justice Program, to talk about the legal threats Lil Baby could face, the potential for a RICO investigation, and the broader implications of investigating someone for creating something “where he knew he should not have been.”
The FADER: During their press conference, the APD said that a rapper, heavily implied to be Lil Baby, bears responsibility for the deaths of these two boys because months prior he was “somewhere that he should not have been.” Do you believe that he could face charges for filming a music video in rival gang territory?
Melissa Redmon: Not likely. There’s this perceived overlap between rapping about criminal conduct and committing criminal conduct. So, [there’s] shooting a rap video in a rival gang territory for the purpose of entertainment just to get out to your fans, or, for the purpose of antagonizing that rival gang, knowing there’s going to be subsequent retaliation. [The latter] is potential criminal conduct. The other is just artistic expression and making a video to go along with your song.
Any time you try to criminalize artistic expression, you’re going to have problems. For him to face criminal charges, they would have to show that when he shot that video, he knew it was rival gang territory, and he either knew or should have perceived that there was going to be the type of retaliation that would have resulted in death and serious bodily harm to other individuals.
How could a prosecutor prove that Lil Baby knew that there was a good chance that something like this could happen?
Well, that’s the difficulty of it: figuring out what someone knew and what they did with that information. Were there any conversations about where to shoot the video? Was this location purposely picked because it was allegedly in rival territory? Was it meant to antagonize that rival gang? It would be difficult because they would have to show that he would have known there would be some retaliation. We also have to remember that in these types of investigations, there’s typically information that’s not released to the public. I am sure that there is more information that the police are holding closer to the vest right now.
When the YSL indictment was released, it contained pictures of social media postings as well as lyrics and text message threads.
Right. I would venture a guess that it is an ongoing investigation. I remember the detective alluding to that fact in the press conference. I would also say that because they didn’t name the artists involved, [that] would indicate that they perhaps don’t have a strong enough connection between him and this particular crime at the moment. I also would imagine that given the YSL case, that both the police and the prosecutors would be extremely diligent before bringing another RICO case against a person in the entertainment industry who’s alleged to have gang ties.
Do you believe a RICO case could be in the cards?
Anytime you’re dealing with alleged gang conduct, there’s a potential for a RICO case. I also think that given the current climate and the use of RICO, it’s by no means a given just because it’s a gang case. This particular case is focused on the tragic deaths of these two innocent individuals. If the investigation reveals more of the conduct of each and the back and forth and any additional gang-related conduct, I think it’s a potential. But that’s generally a decision that’s made once the investigators have turned over their case to the prosecutors.
This case is obviously very complicated and there’s a lot of different emotional and legal threads that you can pull on. There’s this idea of pursuing someone for being in a specific place that feels like it could violate the principle of freedom of movement. At the same time, the residents of these places are suffering the consequences of gang violence and need to be helped. In your opinion, how can we ensure that these people’s lives and fundamental human rights are simultaneously protected?
Some of the onus is on the artist to be able to express themselves in a way that’s safe for their fans. The safety issue of being intentional about where you are, if there is some alleged connection between you and a rival gang. And that’s a lot different from criminal liability.
You should be able to shoot a music video in a location where you want to shoot a music video. But I think you would know if you’re from that neighborhood, whether or not that will cause problems. And again, that is very different from subjecting yourself to any type of criminal liability. I’m thinking about a safety issue and what can be done so that these communities aren’t caught in alleged gang crossfire.
If there’s retaliation back and forth of alleged disrespect by shooting a video on a rival gang territory, is that really necessary to do to promote your music? And that’s a conversation that has to be had among those who decide how and where they want to express themselves, understanding the implications of what could happen.
So, yeah, you have human rights. You have the right to freedom of movement and freedom of expression. But if you are concerned with the safety in the community, I just think out of a little bit of selfless consideration of others, then you can consider whether that’s really something you want to do.