An up-and-coming Atlanta rapper Lil Purk real name Jamal Jones has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting and killing of two teenagers outside of a public transit station.
The shooting occurred in 2022 after mall cops escorted a group of teenagers off the Atlantic Station property for “unruly behavior” and violating the retail district’s curfew.
A 12-year-old and 15-year-old were left dead, and four other individuals were injured by the shooting. A total of seven individuals were arrested in connection to the case, with five defendants entering guilty pleas in violation of the Street Gang Act.
While it appears Lil Purk was arrested by Atlanta Police Department (APD) in the days following the shooting, APD didn’t identify the 15 and 16-year-old suspects they apprehended in the case. However, APD did announce the suspects would be facing murder charges. They also revealed one of the teens was apprehended in New York and both are students in the Atlanta Public Schools system. At the time of their arrest, both teens were described as “shooters” in the incident.
Lil Purk began making a name for himself following the release of his viral single “Walkem Down,” which currently has attracted more than one million streams in-counting on Spotify.
In 2022 he released his debut project Before The Fame, which featured his breakout single “I Be With P5ive” via Simple Stupid and Geffen Records. In a statement shared to his Instagram Story, Lil Purk addressed his legal situation and advised the younger generation to take heed.
“To all my family and fans I would like to sincerely apologize to y’all and to all the younger generation looking up to me,” Lil Purk wrote in part. “Let me and my situation be a lesson learned for our whole generation everything not what it seem and I’m still pleading my innocence I love you lil hot and to the families hurt by this situation forgive me also still keeping faith alive 43va.”