Rapper Ralan Styles who went viral for his version of Baby Shark has been shot and killed, allegedly by a petty criminal who tried to rob him, Daily Mail reports.
According to the report by Daily Mail, Ralan Styles, real name Michael Robinson, 22, was shot multiple times at a home in Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Witnesses said the alleged killer tried to steal his neck chain, and shot him in a scuffle that followed before fleeing.
Police were called to the Victorian Village neighborhood just before 5am and were flagged down by a man who led them inside.
Officers found Styles, originally from Tallahassee, Florida, bleeding from gunshot wounds and tried to revive him until paramedics arrived.
Attempts at CPR failed and he was pronounced dead at 5.10am.
Witnesses gave police a detailed description of the shooter, and they found Mahamood Hassan, 24, who matched the description, nearby.
He was arrested, and charged with murder after witnesses picked him out of a police lineup as the shooter.
Hassan is behind bars in the Franklin County Jail and will face court on Monday. He has three previous arrests for trespassing and stealing.
Styles’ brother, a rapper known as ‘Lil Goat’, mourned him online in the hours after his death, posting videos of them together.
‘Not my lil brother man. I’m still waiting for you to call me and tell me this whole thing is a joke,’ he wrote on Instagram.
‘My heart is f**king broken, I’ll never be the same. We went from rapping at the lunch table together in middle school, to becoming superstars.
‘We slept on the floor together, we ate together, we fought together, signed our first deal together. I love you bro, and as long as I’m alive you’ll never die.
‘Watch over me. Rest in peace to my lil brother. Save me a spot up there my heart.’
‘Over the past two years [my brother] Jake and I got to experience the funny, energetic, and talented person that you were,’ he wrote.
‘There was never a dull moment with you whether we were in the studio, chillin in Jake’s basement, or even just riding in the car to McDonald’s. You had an energy that will NEVER be forgotten.’
Ralan Styles went viral in 2022 with his dark and brooding rap remix of the cultural phenomenon that gripped the world in 2019.
His version was watched more than four million times on his YouTube and more on TikTok, earning him a record deal with Republic Records.
He attended the Republic Records BET Awards in June and released Polyamorous featuring Justina Valentine.