The defense lawyer for the man that shot and killed rapper Dolla has revealed that a mall surveillance tape will show the Atlanta emcee threatening his client before the fatal shooting.
According to Los Angeles attorney Howard Price, his client Aubrey Berry killed Dolla in self-defense despite the rapper being unarmed.
“He believed [Dolla] was armed,” Price told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He [Berry] believed he was in danger.”
The two men had crossed paths two weeks ago, when Dolla and his entourage allegedly attacked Berry at an Atlanta gentleman’s club named Platinum 21.
Regarding the accusations that Berry followed Dolla to Los Angeles to execute him in revenge, Price argued their chance second encounter in the restaurant stall was simply fate.
Berry, a self-styled music promoter, is said to have been at the eatery conducting a business meeting.
“He [Berry] was there [at P.F. Chang’s] first,” Price explained. “[During the strip club incident], Mr. Berry inadvertently bumped into a woman he didn’t know. It was a stupid, silly incident that should’ve never escalated to this point.”
According to Price, his client decided to flee the restaurant after the bathroom stall encounter, as friends warned him that Dolla had Crip affiliations.
While waiting for his vehicle in the Beverly Center parking lot, he was allegedly approached by Dolla, his friend, Sidiq Abawi, and the rapper’s cousin, Wilbert Robinson.
Around this time, Berry discharged four to five shots from his 9MM handgun.
Dolla was hit several times in the back, and died from a wound that pierced his heart.
Police have charged Aubrey Berry with two counts of assault with a deadly firearm and one count of murder.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Dolla’s stepfather George Viera explained his stepson’s true personality was league’s a part from the rap persona fans knew.
“It was a character he played. To us he was just Roddy,” Viera revealed in a statement. “When he was home, you couldn’t pry him away. [He] loved to play with his nieces and nephews, loved to play on the Wii. He wanted to go to theology school. He was very interested in religion. People think rapper, they think hard, but he wasn’t that way.”
At press time, Aubrey Berry’s bail has been set at $5 million.