Roderick Anthony Burton II, known as Dolla, was shot in the head and killed while standing in the valet waiting area of the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles on May 18, 2009. He was 21 and in Los Angeles to work on his debut album. The shooting happened about 3:10 p.m.; witnesses said the gunman fled in a Mercedes SUV.

Hours after the killing a 23-year-old man from Atlanta, Aubrey Louis Berry, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and found with a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun in his waistband that authorities believed was the weapon used. Berry pleaded not guilty at his May 22, 2009 arraignment. His defense argued self-defense, citing an earlier altercation in Atlanta and asserting Burton had a violent history; the defense also introduced Burton’s lyrics as evidence of aggressive tendencies. The prosecution called the killing a premeditated act of revenge, but a jury acquitted Berry on May 21, 2010.

Burton’s death cut short a rising career and prompted debate over using an artist’s lyrics in court. Does anyone have memories of Dolla from the Atlanta or Los Angeles music scenes, or information about the days leading up to May 18, 2009?