Atlanta rappers surprise 12-year-old shooting victim with hospital visit
Young Dro asks to mentor child shot multiple times
Atlanta rapper Young Dro, who has an organization for the youth focused on promoting peace, visited 12-year-old Ja'Quavious in the hospital who was shot multiple times while trying to sell water with his brother. The rapper said he wants to mentor the child and help with his medical bills.
ATLANTA - A 12-year-old boy critically injured in a southwest Atlanta shooting over the weekend received a surprise visit to the hospital from two Atlanta rappers on Monday.
Rappers Young Dro and Ralo showed up to Egleston Children’s Hospital with balloons and a message about gun violence and its impact on the youth.
"I’m all about people protecting themselves, but senseless violence I stand up against," said Young Dro.
Dro said in the midst of planning a youth gun violence summit over the weekend, he was disheartened to learn that 12-year-old Ja’Quavious Davis was shot.
Atlanta police say the shooting happened Friday near the intersection of MLK Jr. Drive and Hamilton E Holmes.
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The boy’s mother told FOX 5 he was with his older brother who was trying to sell some water when someone in a car opened fire.
He was struck three times…now they fear he may be paralyzed.
"Gun violence is not the way…we got to have some solutions for these kids to get out the streets," he told FOX 5. "I think that we, as a community, have to have something for these children to do because he was selling water."
Dro says through his organization "It Takes a Village Still" he hopes to use his platform to get through to young people and promote peace.
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He is calling on other members of the hip-hop community to do the same.
"I don’t want to be one of the ones to have a platform, have a voice that don’t use it…especially in the right way because it could be my child," he said.
Dro says he and Ralo are also helping the family cover medical bills by donating to their GoFundMe, and he hopes to become a mentor to Ja’Quavious.
APD officials have not released any details about the suspected shooter but say the investigation is active and ongoing.