14 DAY TRIAL // Event organizer Aubrey Louis Berry, detained in the case of this week’s shooting of upcoming young rapper Dolla, has pled not guilty to two counts of assault with a firearm and one count of murder, the LA Times informs. Berry, 23, was arrested the other day at LAX airport, as he was presumably trying to make his escape by plane.
Berry, as noted above, was apprehended by police within hours after the shooting, as eyewitnesses had seen him run from the Beverly Center in Los Angeles moments after the gunshot was heard. It was believed Berry had had some sort of altercation with 21-year-old Dolla, real name Roderick Anthony Burton II, which became heated in almost no time and prompted him to pull a gun on the rapper and fatally shoot him in the head.
“Aubrey Louis Berry, 23, is accused of gunning down Roderick Anthony Burton II, known professionally as Dolla, and shooting at two other people in the Atlanta rapper’s entourage Monday in the valet area of the popular Westside mall. Prosecutors today also amended the charges to include an extra firearms offense of personally and intentionally discharging a firearm, which caused great bodily injury and death.” The LA Times informs.
“Authorities allege that Berry, who had an altercation with Burton at an Atlanta club this month, fired at Burton, 21, and two people who were with him. Berry, who fled the scene hours after the shooting, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with the purported murder weapon tucked in this waistband.” it is further being said. Berry is now claiming the shooting of all three men was in self-defense.
Berry’s attorney, Howard R. Price, is telling the media it was Dolla who provoked the shooting, by chasing his client in the parking area of the Mall and threatening to kill him. Berry was left with no other option but to shoot him as “he perceived his life was in danger” – he then fled the scene because he got scared and did not know what to do. According to the attorney, Berry faces at worst a manslaughter sentence and self-defense at best.