Police arrest Atlanta rapper in shooting near barbershop that injured toddler

Kentavious Wright (right) was arrested without incident on charges that he shot at a father and son in their car, hitting the 3-year-old boy in the head.

Credit: Atlanta Police Department

Credit: Atlanta Police Department

Kentavious Wright (right) was arrested without incident on charges that he shot at a father and son in their car, hitting the 3-year-old boy in the head.

A man accused of shooting at a toddler and his father as they left a southwest Atlanta barbershop, hitting the child in the head, was arrested last week during a traffic stop, police said.

Kentavious Wright, 24, was booked into the Fulton County Jail on a dozen counts, including criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and multiple gang-related charges, online jail records show.

Wright performs as the rapper Dirty Tay and is signed to fellow Atlanta rapper Lil Baby’s 4PF record label, according to reporting from music and culture magazine Complex.

Police released body-worn camera footage of the arrest that showed multiple officers taking Wright into custody Aug. 19 alongside his girlfriend. Officers searched the woman, whose identity was not released, and found a gun they say belonged to Wright.

He was interviewed before being booked into the Fulton jail, police said. No further information has been released about how investigators connected Wright to the shooting, which took place Aug. 3

The 3-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was shot in the head as he and his father left Off The Hook barbershop on Peters Street in their car, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

As the father and son traveled south on Peters Street, a Kia performed a U-turn after passing their car and began following them, police said. The Kia pulled alongside their car on the passenger side and someone inside opened fire at an intersection.

The father estimated the suspect fired five shots before he pulled away and drove to a fire station, according to the incident report. Three 9 mm shell casings were recovered.

The boy was rushed to the hospital and was considered stable in the hours after the shooting, but police have not provided an update on his condition since.

Police did not share any further information about the circumstances around the shooting or say why Wright was pulled over last week. According to jail records, he is also charged with three counts of committing offenses listed in Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act with the intent to gain membership or increase his status in a criminal street gang.

Dirty Tay released two albums in 2020 under the 4PF label and has more than 74,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.