Atlanta rapper Erica Banks arrested with stolen gun at airport

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Erica Scharmane Breaux (Erica Banks) Photo courtesy of Clayton County Sheriff's Office

ATLANTA - Atlanta rapper Erica Banks is expected to appear in court soon following her arrest on a charge of theft by receiving stolen property.

What we know:

Banks, whose legal name is Erica Scharmane Breaux, was booked into the Clayton County Jail on Wednesday night and released a few hours later, according to jail records.

Late Thursday morning, Atlanta police released information about the arrest.

According to the incident report, Banks was stopped at the North Checkpoint of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport because a gun was discovered in her Louis Vuitton bag, which she placed on the conveyor belt for an x-ray machine.

Banks told the officers that she was not aware that there was a gun, which was a black and gray Smith & Wesson, in her bag and she was planning to board a flight to Houston.

A police officer ran a check on the gun and discovered that it came back as stolen in 2018 out of Greensville, South Carolina.

Banks informed the police that the gun belonged to her "security," but did not give them a name. Banks was arrested at the airport and taken to the Clayton County Jail.

What we don't know:

FOX 5 Atlanta has reached out to her attorney for a statement.

The backstory:

Banks rose to fame in 2021 with her hit single "Buss It," which climbed to the top of the Billboard Top Triller U.S. charts and sparked a viral dance trend on TikTok. She later joined the cast of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta in June 2023 and signed a new joint venture deal with Arista Records in December 2024.