“As the officers approached the suspect, they asked him ‘Do you know why we’re here?’ ” Airport Police spokesman Sgt. Jim Holcomb told the Associated Press. “He put his [hands] up in the air and said, ‘Yes, I’ve got a gun in my waistband. Don’t shoot me.’ ”

They found a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun, and immediately turned the suspect over to LAPD police.

Two other suspects, a man and a woman, are being questioned as “persons of interest,” but as of press time, have not been charged. They were found at the airport with Berry and arrested before attempting to board a flight at LAX.

Authorities initially believed the shooting took place following a spontaneous argument between the two young men. However, new evidence indicates that Berry and Dolla may have known each other.

Dolla had been a resident of Atlanta since the age of five.

The rapper’s publicist Sue Vannasing has spoken to the media regarding the incident, vaguely revealing details. She says Dolla arrived at LAX to record new music for his album in Los Angeles, but before he left the airport he got into an altercation.

“They followed him to the mall because they knew he was coming,” Vannasing said

The rapper was just 21 years old, and had a bright future ahead of him. In 2007, he inked a deal with Akon’s Konvict Muzik label, and began to generate a buzz, via the mildly successful debut single, “Who The F*** Is That?” featuring T-Pain.

He had been working on his debut album, Dolla & A Dream, that was expected sometime late this year.