FILE – In this March 15, 2016, file photo, Big Boi performs at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival closing party at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas. Big Boi presented a puppy on August 10, 2017, to a little girl who was paralyzed in an April shooting. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta rapper Big Boi has given a puppy to a little girl who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot while playing in a bounce house near the city earlier this year.
WSB-TV reports (http://2wsb.tv/2uuxTkO ) Big Boi, who’s one-half of the rap duo OutKast, presented Abriya Ellison on Thursday with the pup bred from his kennel business. Video shows Abriya cradling the dog, which she named King.
Big Boi, whose real name is Antwan Patton, tells the station that the dog is “something therapeutic” for Abriya. He says the girl is “definitely inspiring” and her story touched his heart. Patton also has agreed to pay off Abriya’s medical bills and renovate her bathroom to make it handicap accessible.
Abriya was 5 when she was shot outside Atlanta in April.
