SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has confirmed the victim in a crash in South Fulton County has been identified as Carlos Walker, also known as Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo.
Fulton County police say the crash happened around 2:20 a.m. when the 2016 Audi that Walker was driving crashed over a guardrail, hit several trees and caught fire at the Cascade Road exit.
The police department says the 40-year-old was ejected and died at the scene. Two women in the car were injured and taken to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
The rapper's manager confirmed the news and Shawty Lo's Twitter account put out a statement.
My brother has passed he is no longer here but his spirit, his kind heart , and his music will live on Long live Shawty Lo King of Bankhead
— SHAWTY LO (@THATSSHAWTYLO) September 21, 2016
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After initially describing the crash as a hit-and-run, “it has been confirmed now that it was a single car accident,” Fulton police spokeswoman Cpl. Maureen Smith said.
The rapper formed the hip hop group D4L with fellow Atlanta rappers Fabo, Mook-B and Stoney. The group released the popular songs "Betcha Can't Do It Like Me" and "Laffy Taffy."
He was born in Moultrie, Georgia in 1976.
Update: Manager confirms, Rapper #ShawtyLo killed in car crash. Police now say accident was a single car crash- no hit & run. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/JcFbFkGbKN
— Audrey Washington (@AudreyWSBTV) September 21, 2016
Channel 2's Audrey Washington met with Shawty Lo's group D4L and his manager after they spoke on the Ryan Cameron Morning Show with Wanda Smith.
His friend broke down in tears when he explained he invited the rapper to hang out with him Tuesday night.
"I called him and asked him to come out, you know? And he came out and my buddy didn't go back home, you know?” Shawty Lo’s friend said.
Shawty Lo made news in 2013 when the Oxygen network announced plans for a special about his blended family, which includes 11 children with 10 women. After outrage and online petitions, the special entitled “All My Babies’ Mamas” was scrapped before it even aired.
No other details about the crash were released.
Artists, neighbors, friends and family mourn loss of Shawty Lo
Artists, neighbors, childhood friends and family have gathered along Donald Lee Hollowell with the sound of Shawty Lo's music blasting through the doors of the ORG studio.
His death has made national news, but there's only one place where you'll find people who truly knew Shawty Lo.
"We just stunned right now,” D4L co-founder Marcus Smith said. “The community is just stunned."
Shawty Lo is memorialized in so many personal ways once you cross into Donald Lee Hollowell.
"And for him to leave today?” friend Shawn Robinson asked. “I'm crushed. It's hard. It's very hard for me. And everybody just left Yung Joc party last night, you understand me?"
On every corner, you'd find people mourning the loss of the 40-year-old who rose to fame in the early 2000s, but never became a stranger to this neighborhood.
"They really looked up to him, especially if you could be one of the ones that make it out,” friend Dontavius Dowell said.
"Thanksgiving, Christmas. People needed a lot of things and he came out of his own pocket and gave,” Smith said.
Outside the ORG studio off Donald Lee Hollowell, one of Shawty Lo's 11 children stepped out to speak with us.
"We trying to strong, but we can't. You know, we can't bring him back, but he in a better place, though,” son Michael Robinson said.
The two unidentified female passenger are being treated at Grady as the cause of the accident remains under investigation.
Channel 2 Action News has not heard anything about funeral arrangements at this point.
Cox Media Group
