An Atlanta rapper has been sentenced to federal prison after he fled from police with a gun last year while officers attempted to arrest him in connection with a May 2021 shooting, authorities announced Wednesday.
Ibnisa Durr, 26, who performs as rapper Paper Lovee, pleaded guilty in May to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison, followed by three years of supervised released.
The police chase happened along Ga. 400 in Sandy Springs three months after the May 30, 2021 shooting at a southeast Atlanta convenience store, police said. In that case, which remains open, Durr is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Fulton County court records show.
On Aug. 20, Atlanta police tracked Durr to an apartment in Sandy Springs and asked for help when he sped away in a high-end BMW, according to Sandy Springs police.
After they attempted to stop the vehicle on Ga. 400 near Hammond Drive, police said Durr crashed into two patrol units, one of which had a K-9 inside. The police dog was not injured, but an officer was taken to a hospital for a head injury, a police spokesman said at the time.
“His reckless conduct seriously endangered the lives of innocent motorists and officers,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan Buchanan said.
As an unsigned artist, Paper Lovee boasts more than 200,000 followers on Instagram. He was previously signed to 300 Entertainment and released his newest single in March.
Police dash camera footage of the pursuit appeared to show Durr’s black BMW with blue accents and butterfly doors speeding away. As soon as Durr crashed, police boxed him in.
The footage then shows him climbing out of his car and throwing “a bag containing a loaded firearm over an interstate guardrail,” Buchanan said. The gun was recovered by the arresting officers.
Authorities were quickly able to get Durr on the ground, but a struggle ensued while trying to arrest him, police said.
The shooting that prompted his arrest happened in the 2000 block of Alison Court and left a 25-year-old man injured, an incident report shows. A witness told officers several people jumped in when an argument turned into a physical fight outside the Neighborhood Discount Grocery, and shots were fired, according to the report. Six shell casings were recovered by police.
Durr has a long history of arrests in Fulton County dating to 2013, when he became a felon after being found guilty of armed robbery and aggravated assault, court records show.
“Anytime we take a career criminal off the streets of our great city, it’s a win-win situation for the city and the citizens of Atlanta,” said interim Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum.
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