Rapper Dolla Shot And killed at Beverly Center

Atlanta rapper Roderick Anthony Burton II, aka Dolla, was shot and killed in LA today. Some of you may recall Dolla as a member of the boy group Da Rascals back in the 90s. Dolla signed to Akon’s Konvict Records in 2007 and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him with the release of his debut single “Feelin’ Myself”. But he could not escape the violence that permeates the Hip Hop community.

From the LATimes.com:

The man shot at the Beverly Center mall this afternoon was identified as Atlanta-based rapper Dolla, whose real name is Roderick Anthony Burton II, according to his publicist, Sue Vannasing. She said Dolla was shot in the head around 3:10 p.m. while he and another rapper, D.J. Shabbazz, waited in the area after shopping at the popular Westside mall. A friend who was with the rapper at the Beverly Center also confirmed his identity to The Times.About two hours later, Los Angeles police detained a “person of interest” as he attempted to board a plane out of Los Angeles International Airport. The man allegedly drove his silver Mercedes SUV from Beverly Center to the airport.

Vannasing said Dolla had gotten into an altercation with other passengers on a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, but it’s unclear if that was related to the violence.Police have arrested one “person of interest” in connection with the shooting but were looking for a second suspect.The arrested suspect, who fled from the mall in a silver Mercedes, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport while trying to board a flight. Police said the shooting took place in the valet waiting area of the mall].

The shooting occurred just after 3 p.m. at the La Cienega Boulevard entrance to the popular Westside shopping center. All entrances and exits to the popular Westside shopping mall were sealed off as police swarmed the scene.Burton aka Dolla was an up-and-coming rapper who had recorded several singles. He was in town to work on his first album, slated to be released this summer on Jive Records, Vannasing said.

His first single, released in 2007, was "Who the [Expletive] is that?" He was born in Chicago in 1988 and moved with his family to the Los Angeles area and then to Atlanta, according to a biography on his MySpace.com page. The biography said he witnessed his father commit suicide at age 5 and turned to crime to support his family at 10.