Young Dolph was shot and killed in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon. His death was confirmed to FOX13 by three different law enforcement sources.
The 36-year-old rapper, whose real name is Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr., was at Makeda’s Cookies in South Memphis when the assailant, who has yet to be identified, drove past and fired shots through the window around 1 pm EDT.
Thornton’s Lamborghini was in the parking lot of the bakery when the news channel’s crew arrived.
Students told the channel that he was known in the community for donating money to his former high school and distributing free turkeys during Thanksgiving.
After dropping more than a dozen mixtapes via his own Paper Route Empire label, Thornton emerged with his first full-length album King of Memphis in 2016. In the ensuing half a decade, he released six more studio albums.
Over the course of his career, Thornton worked with leading figures in hip-hop including Megan Thee Stallion, Ty Dolla $ign, T.I. and Lil Baby. In March, he collaborated with his protégé, fellow Memphis rapper Key Glock, to create the sequel to their mixtape Dum and Dummer.
Thornton leaves behind two children, a son and a daughter.
