The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta police are still trying to figure out who gunned down rapper Slim Dunkin in an Atlanta a recording studio Friday afternoon -- and why?
Police Major Keith Meadows said Saturday there have been no arrests in the shooting.
“We’re still talking to people,” Meadows said. “The truth is we don’t know exactly what happened.”
Witnesses told police the 24-year-old rap star, whose real name is Mario Hamilton, got into an argument before a video shoot at a studio on Memorial drive about 5:30 Friday afternoon. The person he was arguing with pulled out a pistol and shot Hamilton in the chest. Hamilton was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.
A few more details of the last few hours of the rapper’s life began to emerge Saturday on web sites that follow the industry. Hamilton was described on various music industry sites as an emerging star in the Brick Squad Monopoly rap group, and that group’s members include Gucci Mane, an Atlanta rapper whose real name is Radric Davis.
Davis is almost as well known for his run-ins with the law and his stints behind bars on various violations in recent years as he is for his music. He was most recently released from custody, from Fulton County Jail, last Sunday, according to the web site xxlmag.
According to web site HipHopdx, Hamilton was at the Memorial Drive studio about to attend a recording session with Gucci Mane, and another rap artist, V-Nasty, for a "Push Ups" video when he was killed.
It's not clear what Hamilton's plans were later Friday night. But, according to the web site for the club E.S.S.O., Gucci Main and other rap artists and promoters planned to host a “pre-Christmas” party at club E.S.S.O., about a mile from the recording studio on Memorial Drive.
Atlanta police investigator Meadows told WSB-TV Friday that investigators talked to about 8 people of the as many as 20 who were at the studio Friday when Hamilton was shot.
They told investigators that Hamilton got into a "verbal altercation with another individual" before the shoot, and that person "produced a handgun, discharged that weapon at least one time, striking Mr. Hamilton in the chest," said Meadows.
But some details are in dispute, and investigators are “just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together," said Meadows. " It seems everybody witnessed something very different. We're just trying to go back and make sense of everything." Police have not recovered the handgun that was used.
The music industry, meanwhile, was trying to absorb the news of the latest violent killing of a rap artist. By most accounts, Hamilton was on the rise with a impressive resume.
He was a childhood friend of fellow rap artist Waka Flocka Flame and appeared on Gucci Mane and Waka's "Ferrari Boyz" album released over the summer.
Fans created a memorial Facebook page, “Rest In Peace Slim Dunkin,” where comments were posted Saturday. “Life is so cruel,” wrote one. “People don't give a dam about no one not even themselves, you got people crying, because people are dying."
Another read: “It shows you that you can't trust a soul on this planet one min you with that person next you at there funeral."
-- The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I can't believe that Slim Duncan got gunned down just like that. WE lost another rapper. Read more about how Slim Duncan dead.
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