A rapper known as Yung Hott was killed during a Saturday evening shooting spree that erupted while he made a video in his hometown, Griffin police said.
Rapper Yung Hott, whose real name is Jerode Paige, was shot and killed Saturday night while filming a video. One accused shooter is still on the loose, police said.
Jerode Paige died at the scene of the quadruple shooting in which about 20 rounds were fired, according to Lt. Sam Parks. Three others, including a 5-year-old girl, suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said. Police pulled over a white Chrysler after the shooting and detained three suspects, WSB-TV reported. The investigation is continuing.
The additional shooting victims included a 5-year-old girl who was playing in a toy car in her yard. The child suffered a wound to her left foot. She was treated at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and released Sunday. Two of the shooting victims were treated at Spalding Regional Hospital, then transferred to police custody. They are being called "persons of interest." The incident happened around 6 p.m. near the intersection of Tinsley and Fourth streets, police said.
Paige, 27, was filming his first video when the shooting began. His uncle, Kenny Paige, was among 150 to 200 people who were working on the video or watching when the gunfire erupted.
"I mean, it was broad daylight," Kenny Paige told the AJC. "I heard a lot of gunshots and people scattered." Paige was shot in the head, his uncle said.
The video was to accompany Paige's first single, which had recently been played on an Atlanta radio station, according to Sid Cooper, a producer who had worked with the rapper.
"He had some good music," Cooper told the AJC. “His music was real. Everything he talked about in his music he did.”
Friends said Paige was trying to turn his life around after a past that included prison. Paige was released from Wheeler Correctional Facility in central Georgia in June and was on parole, according to state Department of Corrections online records. He served prison time for a variety of drug offenses as well as possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
"He was on the right track," Cooper said. Paige's father was beaten to death at age 28, and Paige was raised by his grandmother in Griffin, another uncle, Gary Paige, told the AJC. Paige was pursuing his music career with a single-minded purpose. He was again living with his grandmother.
"He got out [of prison] and he said he wasn't going to let anybody stop him from getting his career," Gary Paige said. "He wanted to give his grandmother a lot. He was really into his music and he wanted to show his grandmother he had the ability to be somebody." Paige made a point of saying he was from Griffin, not Atlanta.
"He wanted everybody to know he was from a little town that had a lot of talent," Gary Paige said. Paige's uncles said they believe he was targeted but had no idea why.
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