Miami Beach

2 Charged in Miami Beach Double Shooting, Rapper DaBaby Released: Police

Miami Beach Police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said officers arrived at the scene near 1st Street and Ocean Drive and found the victims

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Rapper DaBaby was among several people interviewed following a double shooting on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive late Monday that left two people hospitalized and two other people arrested, police said.

Christopher Urena, 29, and Wisdom Awute, 21, face charges of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault, according to arrest reports. Urena faces additional charges of grand theft and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Miami Beach Police officials confirmed that the 29-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was among the people interviewed after the shooting. Police later said the rapper had been released.

DaBaby performs onstage
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File photo: DaBaby performs onstage during 2019 Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash at State Farm Arena on June 15, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

DaBaby had posted a video on Instagram on Monday of him performing at a private event at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

According to the arrest report, the shooting stemmed from an argument between two groups of men. It's not clear what they were arguing over.

Awute -- a rapper who goes by the name Wisdom and is in DaBaby's music entourage -- is accused of shooting a man in the leg. Urena is accused of shooting someone in the back, who, according to the report, is still in the hospital and paralyzed.

Miami Beach Police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said officers arrived at the scene near 1st Street and Ocean Drive around 11:30 p.m. Monday and found two people who had been shot.

Both victims, one with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and another who was shot in the leg, were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center.

Police said one of the victims was treated and released but the other remained hospitalized Tuesday in critical condition. Their identities weren't released.

Witnesses said they heard a few dozen gunshots, and there were multiple police evidence markers in the middle of the street.

James Dozier, who is visiting Miami Beach with his family, said he had just eaten at a nearby restaurant before the shooting.

"At first it was like two or three shots, and then a couple seconds later it was like 'pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,' a whole bunch of shooting," Dozier said. "And then you can hear the car zooming down the road. You heard a car like trying to get away."

Officers temporarily closed the MacArthur Causeway as part of the investigation, but it was reopened shortly after several possible subjects in the shooting were detained.

An SUV possibly linked to the investigation was towed from the scene.

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