Lil Baby delivered an impassioned speech while attending the funeral of Atlanta teen Bre’Asia Powell, who was shot and killed while attending her own graduation party last month.
During the funeral, which was held on Sunday (June 4) at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church in Atlanta, the rapper offered Powell’s closest family members and friends his condolences. He also took the time to urge the local youth to step up against violence in their communities.
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“What I do want to say to the youth, to like a younger generation, and I’m saying it as a ‘we,’ because I’m with y’all, we gotta change,” Lil Baby began.
He continued: “A lot of time when people talk, it’s more so like on the males, but I’m speaking for the males and the females. The females make the young males think this and that is cool when it’s not. So, the young boys doing this and that, and proving to the girls that they [are] cool when all of it, in the end, it’s not cool. The same girls, they ain’t gon’ be with you, they gon’ be with the opps when you go to jail. I’m only here to not speak, but…we gotta come up with a plan, and I’m here to help the plan.”
Check out the clip below.
According to FOX5 Atlanta, on May 28, around 2:30 a.m., an exchange of gunfire took place in the parking lot of Benjamin E. Mays High School. Powell, 16, was with a group of people that gathered in the parking lot where police say at least 130 rounds were fired.
During the melee, another victim, an unnamed 16-year-old boy, was also wounded. Despite the two being immediately rushed to the hospital, Powell would eventually succumb to her injuries.
While police have theorized that a confrontation presumably led up to the incident, a close family friend of Powell’s, Davida Huntley, disagrees.
“There were no prior altercations that led to this shooting. There was nothing that Bre’Asia did to cause this, to bring this about, to incite this,” Huntley said. “This was an unfortunate tragedy that has shaken a family and friends circle to its core.”
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Few details have been released about the shooting, and per the Atlanta Police Department, it is still unknown who fired the shots. However, officers believe two shooters were involved, and a $10,000 reward has been offered to anyone with information to help solve the crime.
Following the shooting incident, Atlanta Public Schools released the following statement:
“According to Atlanta Police, two teenagers were shot during an unauthorized gathering at the end of the exiting driveway at Benjamin E. Mays High School, early Sunday morning. One is deceased and one is being treated at a local hospital. The gathering occurred after a graduation party at another location in the community was broken up by Atlanta Police a couple of hours earlier. Please contact Atlanta Police for more information.”
