Former “America’s Got Talent” contestant Deshundre “Dre” Vinson has been arrested and is facing serious charges .
Vinson was arrested Wednesday, Sept. 2, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse, according to a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office online booking report viewed by Page Six.
Per his Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office inmate record, the 22-year-old’s bond has been set at $750,000.
Vinson’s next court date is set for Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The singer was arrested in relation to an incident involving the drowning of his 4-year-old nephew on Sunday, Aug. 16, at an apartment swimming pool, per local news outlet Chattanoogan.com.
The outlet reports that Chattanooga Police were responding to a separate incident around 5:41 p.m. local time on that day last month when they heard screaming from the complex’s pool area. When they arrived on the scene, CPR was being administered.
The victim, who appeared to be unconscious and pulled from the apartment’s swimming pool, was rushed to the hospital and remained in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for five days before being pronounced dead, per the Chattanoogan.
The outlet noted that police found no adult on the scene who knew who the boy’s parents were or who he was with at the pool.
Video surveillance on the apartment complex’s premises showed the child enter the water and slip from the edge he was holding on to and drift to the pool’s deeper area where he appeared in distress before submerging, per Chattanoogan.com.
The Chattanoogan reports that the boy remained submerged for approximately nine minutes before being rescued.
Detectives determined that Vinson was responsible for babysitting the child, his 6-year-old brother and additional children at the time of the drowning and had allowed the kids to walk approximately .2 miles to the pool with no adult supervision, per the outlet.
The local news outlet noted that Vinson was not at the pool prior to, during or after the drowning and police confirmed messages between him and the boy’s mother acknowledging the lack of adult supervision and response to the tragedy.
Page Six has reached out to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for additional information.
CitiLimitz, made up of Vinson and his cousins, twin brothers Amari (aka A.T.) and Amarion (aka Marion), made it to the simifinals on “America’s Got Talent” Season 20 in 2025.
The R&B trio also made an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2019.
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