Birdman was not even in Georgia that night: judge drops him from the Lil Wayne tour bus lawsuit

More than 11 years after gunfire raked Lil Wayne’s tour buses on an Atlanta interstate, one of the biggest names in the case has been cleared out of it.

A Georgia judge on Tuesday, US time, dismissed Birdman and Cash Money Records from the civil lawsuit brought by Alvin Lewis, who was behind the wheel of one of Wayne’s buses on the night of the shooting. The judge found Lewis could not point to any admissible evidence that Birdman, legally Bryan Williams, or his label was involved, and found that Birdman was not in Georgia when the shots were fired.

The case can still go on against the remaining defendants.

What happened in 2015?

In the early hours of 26 April 2015, after Lil Wayne performed at an Atlanta nightclub, two of his tour buses were fired on several times on Interstate 285. No one was hit.

Jimmy Winfrey, known as PeeWee Roscoe, who was then Young Thug’s road manager, surrendered to police in Cobb County that June. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison over the shooting.

What was the driver claiming?

Lewis sued for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other claims, saying the attack left him in fear of death and serious harm. He sought damages for pain and suffering, medical costs, lost property and lost wages.

Alongside Winfrey, the suit named Birdman, Young Thug, Cash Money Records and Young Money Entertainment. Neither Birdman nor Young Thug was ever charged with a crime over the shooting.

In his ruling, the judge also noted that Lewis was never struck by a bullet or by shrapnel. The judgment covers only the civil claims against Birdman and Cash Money; it says nothing new about the criminal case, which ended with Winfrey’s plea.

Why does this case still matter?

Because of who was in it, and when. In 2015 Lil Wayne was locked in a bitter public fight with Birdman, the man who signed him as a child and ran the label that made him a star. Wayne was suing Cash Money for tens of millions of dollars over money he said he was owed, and Young Thug, then one of Atlanta’s fastest-rising rappers, was working closely with Birdman.

That made the bus shooting one of the most talked-about moments in the whole falling-out, and kept Birdman’s name attached to it for more than a decade, even though police never charged him.

Wayne and Birdman settled their legal dispute in 2018 and have since appeared together in public. Tuesday’s ruling now takes Birdman out of the last courtroom fight still tied to that era.

Has anyone responded?

No public statement from Birdman, Cash Money, Lil Wayne or Lewis’s lawyers had been reported by Thursday morning, Perth time.