Atlanta rapper Dolla slain in Beverly Hills

Los Angeles police arrested a man Tuesday in connection with the slaying of Atlanta rapper Dolla, who was shot Monday outside a popular Beverly Hills mall. The man, identified as Aubrey Louis Berry of Snellville, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with a gun on Monday night and was charged with murder. He was being held on $1 million bail.

Dolla, born Roderick Anthony Burton II, was gunned down while waiting in the valet area of the Beverly Center, said publicist Sue Vannasing. The Los Angeles Times reported he was shot in the head. He was accompanied by another local rapper, D.J. Shabbazz, and a fellow Jive Recording artist, Scrapp DeLeon.

Police said Berry is believed to have dropped off a rental car before he was found at the airport with a handgun, airport police spokesman Sgt. Jim Holcomb told the AP.

“As the officers approached the suspect, they asked him ‘Do you know why we’re here?’” Holcomb told AP. “He put his (hands) up in the air and said, ‘Yes, I’ve got a gun in my waistband. Don’t shoot me.’”

Police recovered a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun and turned the man over to Los Angeles police. Los Angeles Police spokeswoman Karen Rayner said two other “persons of interest” — one male, one female — who were with Berry at the airport were being questioned but neither has been charged in connection with the shooting. They were detained before attempting to board a plane out of Los Angeles International Airport, about 10 miles away from the Beverly Center.

Vannasing said Dolla, 21, was involved in an altercation before the shooting with an unidentified man and woman who followed him to the mall.

Dolla had just arrived in Los Angeles earlier Monday, his publicist said. He was recording his first album, “Another Day, Another Dolla,” which was due to be released on Akon’s Konvict Muzik label.

“He had a very promising career,” Vannasing said. “He was being hyped as the next Tupac [Shakur]. He chose music to get off the streets.”

Burton was born in Chicago in 1988, according the Times, and moved with his family to Los Angeles.

Burton moved to Atlanta when he was five after his father shot himself in front of the rapper and his sister.

“He was the man of the house,” Vannasing said.

His mother, Joyce Burton, still resides in Atlanta, where Dolla’s funeral will be held, Vannasing said.

News of the murder spread rapidly on Twitter where, ironically, the rapper had just opened an account earlier in the day.

According to his official MySpace page, Burton began performing in local showcases at age 12 with his group, Da Razkals Cru. He was signed to Elektra Records in 2001, his site says. The label eventually dissolved and the group split in 2003, when Dolla said he returned to Atlanta to focus on a solo career.

“I was disappointed but all that made me do was work harder,” he said. “It was a stepping stone.”

He soon signed with Jive, where, collaborating with former Elektra acquaintance, Akon, he released his first single “Who The [expletive] Is That?” featuring T-Pain.