Billboard Women in Music 2025
Young Scooter’s cause of death has been revealed by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office.
The Atlanta rapper, real name Kenneth Bailey, died after puncturing his thigh and losing too much blood as a result of climbing a wooden fence. “Mr. Bailey sustained a penetrating injury of his right thigh that created marked blood loss. This injury was not a gunshot wound. Mr. Bailey injured himself on organic (wooden) fencing material and/or woody debris after vaulting at least one fence,” the Medical Examiner shared in a statement to Rolling Stone.
Scooter died on Friday night (March 28) on his 39th birthday. That evening, Atlanta Police Lt. Andrew Smith led a news conference to explain what reportedly happened. According to Smith, police responded to a call about a dispute with a weapon at a home in the Lakewood Heights neighborhood of Atlanta. They set up a perimeter outside of the home where the dispute occurred, after a man shut the door on officers. Two men then fled from the house from the back door, though one returned to the house and the other jumping two fences as he was fleeing. Scooter was reportedly the man who jumped the fences, which the Medical Examiner’s ruling confirms.
Before the press conference, rumors began to spread that officers shot Scooter, leading to his death. Young Thug, for example, posted on X in a since-deleted post, “Autopsy came back street got shot,” in reference to the deceased rapper’s nickname.
Young Scooter made his name on the Billboard charts as a featured artist on Young Thug’s 2016 hit, “Guwop,” also featuring Quavo and Offset of Migos. The track peaked at No. 45 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. He later featured on Future & Juice WRLD’s “Jet Lag” in 2018, which climbed to No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100.
