Rapper DaBaby Reportedly Shot Intruder In Leg At North Carolina Estate

A North Carolina-based rapper reportedly shot an intruder on his rural estate in self-defense this week.

The Troutman Police Department confirmed in a statement that, at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to a shooting on a property in the town — which is about 35 miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina — widely known to belong to rapper DaBaby, 30. They found one person with "a non-life threatening gunshot wound" and transported that individual to the hospital.

In a redacted 911 call obtained by Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC — in which a man can be heard screaming in the background — the caller states that there is a man trespassing on his property and, in response to questions, tells the 911 dispatcher, "I shot him in his leg."

"Why did you do that," asks the operator.

"Because he's trespassing on my property, calling me by my name," the caller responds. "I don't know what he's here for, what he's here to take, what he's here to do, but he's shot in his leg, he's neutralized until you guys get here."

The caller (and the shooter) was identified by law enforcement sources to TMZ as DaBaby, whose given name is Jonathan Kirk.

Police did not confirm that on the record to WCNC, though they confirmed that the rapper and one other person were home at the time of the incident.

DaBaby later tells the operator that the intruder is "right in front" of him during the call, and that he was shot in the lower thigh.

"Sir, is there any serious bleeding," the dispatcher asks.

"I'd say yes, bro," DaBaby responds.

"Is he completely alert?" the dispatcher then asks.

"Do you hear him? Do you not hear this man, bro?" DaBaby says, seemingly in reference to the man who can be heard screaming in the background of the entire call. 

The dispatcher asks him to clarify whether the man is alert.

"Yeah, I can't hear you, repeating every question that you ask me, because he's over here screaming," replies DaBaby. "Y'all just get somebody here."

In response to other questions, DaBaby told the dispatcher that he didn't know if there was more than one intruder or not. 

"All I see is one individual, I don't know if he had somebody with him," he explains. "I have no way of knowing that. But in order for him to get here, he had to jump over a fence and everything."

"Where's your firearm, sir," the dispatcher asks.

"Right here in my hand," DaBaby replies. 

"I'm going to need you to secure your firearm, sir," he replies.

"It's secure," he replies.

"Sir," the dispatcher repeats.

"It's secure, I told you it's secure," DaBaby says. "I'm not putting it down with this trespasser I got on my property, I'm not doing that."

"I have to let the police in the gate anyways," DaBaby adds, as the dispatcher objects. "But I don't know who he's got with him, what he came here for but he's already an acre onto my property. And he had to trespass on somebody else's property to even get on my property."

DaBaby can then be heard answering another phone, during which the dispatcher asks him to stay on the line, and DaBaby explains that he needs to answer the other phone in order to let police and first responders onto the property.

The dispatcher then asks him — again — what happened, and DaBaby said he already explained.

"You said he was trespassing, I need to know the events leading up to that," the dispatcher says, raising his voice.

"I still gotta look out for somebody who might be with him," says DaBaby. "I ain't got time for that."

"I'm sorry, sir, so you don't want to cooperate?" asks the dispatcher. "OK."

DaBaby then apparently hangs up, at which point 911 calls him back. When he picks up and they identify themselves, he asks if police are at the gate yet — four minute and 45 seconds into the interactions. The dispatcher explains that they need him to stay on the line until officers arrive.

"And I need to make sure that nobody is leaving or is not sneaking up on me," DaBaby says.

"Is there a reason you think people is sneaking up on you?" the dispatcher asks.

"What you mean?" DaBaby says. "Stuck behind that wall on my property, he's looking over into the open area in my house," referring to the trespasser. 

After some back-and-forth about the incident in which DaBaby appears to indicate that police have a file on the man, and that they've had prior discussions about what to do in case of trespassers, he says "Interrogate me when you get here."

He then says that pressure has been placed on the man's wound and asks that dispatchers hurry up to save the life of the man who has been shot, and to get the man off his property. Then, he seemingly hangs up again.

According to the Charlotte Ledger, police responded to 31 incidents at the property between December 2019 (when DaBaby moved in) and October 2020, including 14 burglar alarms. They also responded to two domestic violence complaints by DaBaby about a woman (identified as the 26-year-old mother of his child) in which he said she had been destructive and/or violent during an argument. (She was arrested after another incident of alleged domestic violence in November 2021, WCNC reported at the time. The two subsequently split up, according to Complex.)

In June 2020, he received a permit to build a 10-foot concrete wall around the property, the paper reported.

In May 2021, a Canadian YouTube channel called Famous Entertainment published a lengthy video about the home, using what appear to be publicly available photos, videos and records. DaBaby did not apparently participate in its production.

DaBaby was previously involved in a 2018 shooting in which he claimed self-defense: He told police and said in a YouTube video that a man, later identified as Jalyn Craig, 19, approached him at a Walmart while he was shopping for winter clothes for his children and attempted to rob him at gunpoint, the Charlotte Observer reported. He was eventually found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon after a bench trial in 2019, the paper reported.

He made headlines in July 2021 after making a series of homophobic and misogynist comments on stage during the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, Billboard reported. After a series of appearances at other festivals were canceled that summer, GLAAD reported they'd sat down with the rapper in August to talk about AIDS and said he'd apologized to the LGBTQ community. He appeared as a special guest at Rolling Loud New York City in October and is scheduled to appear at Rolling Loud Miami in 2022.