Despite his murder, Herron decided to move forward with the event. Dolph happily obliged and planned on returning November 19. James Missionary Baptist Church where he met Pastor Rodney Herron who asked if he’d return to help hand out turkeys to families before Thanksgiving. The day before Easter 2021, he stopped by the St. Just last year, Young Dolph donated $25,000 to Hamilton High School for new sports equipment-and that was just one tiny example of his generous spirit. I pray for the safety of the rest of my former students, and peace for our city!!!” “I was so proud of him because he actually did what he said, he blew up!!! It’s nothing like seeing your former students achieve their dream!!! Tears in my eyes rest well son. “This one hurts because I knew the respectful little boy in the pic that turned himself into national icon!!!” he wrote. As the news spread like wildfire throughout Memphis, Young Dolph’s former principal at Hamilton High School, Michael Bates, took his grief to Facebook and eulogized the ambitious young man he once knew simply as Adolph Thornton, Jr. “During his visit, Dolph explained that he would soon venture to donate turkeys to the Memphis community at a variety of community centers across the city before Thanksgiving-which is yet another testament to his gracious heart.”īut he never made it. “Our associates were deeply touched by his sincerity and effort to extend such gratitude,” the cancer center said in a statement published by the Associated Press. He spent time talking with the clinical staff, thanking them for providing his loved one with such excellent care. Just two days before the deadly shooting, he had visited the West Cancer Center in the Memphis suburb of Germantown where a relative had received treatment. The horrific act of violence brought Dolph’s life to an untimely end, leaving his longtime girlfriend and two young children to pick up the pieces.ĭespite the Paper Route Empire CEO’s hardened rap persona, the Chicago native was involved in numerous charitable efforts. Memphis police said the shooters-armed with a semi-automatic rifle and handgun-pulled up in a white, two-door Mercedes Benz before running past Dolph’s car and firing into the cookie shop, killing him. 17, the rapper was mid-route to his annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway when he decided to make a stop at Makeda’s Butter Cookies, a local favorite. The rap community is in a collective state of mourning following the unexpected shooting death of 36-year-old Memphis rapper Young Dolph.