DaBaby's Self-Defense Claim in 2018 Shooting Weakened by New Video

DaBaby claimed self-defense in the 2018 killing of Jaylin Craig, but a newly surfaced security video appears to contradict the rapper’s longstanding account of what happened.

Right after the shooting, DaBaby said two individuals with weapons confronted him and his family inside a Walmart in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that he opened fire out of fear.

But the new video, which was posted online Sunday night by Rolling Stone, contradicts the rapper’s self-defense claim.

The footage begins with DaBaby as he’s approached by two people. The rapper throws the first punch, and lunges at Craig’s best friend Henry Douglas, tackling him to the ground and starting a physical altercation.

The fight continues down an aisle before going out of frame. DaBaby is then shown getting up off the floor. He picks up a handgun and puts it in his waistband.

The “Rockstar” rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, was not prosecuted in 19-year-old Craig’s death.

DaBaby has always maintained that the teens started the fight, but this new footage casts doubt on these claims.

The rapper has not shied away from the killing, even going as far as to brag about it in his music, but the new video has led Craig’s family to ask: If DaBaby hadn’t thrown the first punch, would Jaylin still be alive?

“I feel like they just swept it up under the rug,” Craig’s mother, LaWanda Horsley, told Rolling Stone. “[DaBaby] knows what he did. I’m not doing this for no fame or anything, because at the end of the day, Jaylin Craig is gone.”