Memphis rapper and member of Fredo Santana’s SSR (Savage Squad Records) camp Baby CEO (also known as Big CEO) has lost his life at the age of 20.

CEO, real name Jonathan Brown, was killed on the 3rd anniversary of Fredo Santana’s death, and his cause of death was not initially revealed which caused confusion. Due to the timing (and an initial deleted post on CEO’s Twitter account) many media outlets assumed that CEO died from drug abuse, but this turned out not to be true. His family and friends, including producer BandPlay, revealed he was shot and did not survive his injuries. The following day CEO’s family member claimed via his Twitter account that he was killed “by his own day 1” (aka long time friend) not an “opp” (meaning member of rival gang).

CEO was shot in the 3800 block of Lake Park Cove in Frayser, Memphis, Tennessee on Tuesday 19th January. At around 10 p.m he was found unresponsive and already deceased by officers who attended the scene.

Drill legend Fredo Santana signed CEO after videos of him smoking and toting weapons at a young age went viral on the internet. His young appearance and name made people believe he was even younger than he was, and the videos circulated incorrectly claiming CEO was younger than 10 years old when he was in fact closer to 13. Since then CEO continued to put out music and build a buzz for himself. In 2018 he decided to change his artist name to Big CEO to show his growth, and only recently welcomed his own son into the world.

Rap personalities, family and friends have reacted to the news after it broke on Wednesday morning.

Rest In Peace Jonathon ‘Baby CEO/Big CEO’ Brown.

-@RapCatchUp

*Updated with details from local Fox13 Memphis report on CEO’s death*