A Chattanooga singer charged with first-degree murder after his 4-year-old nephew drowned in an apartment complex swimming pool has been released from jail — days after his attorney publicly insisted that the child’s death was not intentional.

Deshundre Vinson, 22, a member of the R&B trio CitiLimitz, was arrested on Sept. 2 following an investigation into the August death of his nephew.

He faces one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse.

Initially, Vinson’s total bond across the four charges was $900,000.

But after an agreement between prosecutors and his defense team, that amount was reduced to $100,000, court records show. Vinson subsequently posted bond and was released from custody.

His release does not end the case.

Instead, it sets up what could become the central dispute when the evidence begins emerging in court: prosecutors have charged Vinson with one of the most serious crimes possible, while his attorney argues that what happened was a devastating accident rather than an intentional killing.

Vinson Was Supposed to Be Watching Several Children

The case stems from Aug. 16.

According to Vinson’s arrest report, he was babysitting his 4-year-old nephew, the child’s 6-year-old brother and other children at an apartment complex near Central Avenue in Chattanooga.

At some point, investigators say the two brothers left the area where Vinson was supervising them and walked approximately 0.2 miles to the apartment complex swimming pool.

The younger child entered the water.

Police say he remained underwater for approximately nine minutes.

Officers happened to already be at the apartment complex responding to an unrelated incident when they heard screaming coming from the pool area.

When they reached the pool, they found a civilian performing CPR on the 4-year-old.

The boy was rushed to a hospital.

He survived for five more days before dying from his injuries.

Police Say Surveillance Video Did Not Show Vinson at the Pool

Investigators later began reconstructing what happened before, during and immediately after the child entered the water.

According to the arrest report, surveillance footage did not show Vinson at the pool before the drowning, while the child was underwater or immediately afterward.

Police also obtained communications between Vinson and the boy’s mother.

Investigators say those messages included acknowledgments involving inadequate supervision and his response to the scene.

Those details ultimately became part of the case authorities used to arrest Vinson more than two weeks after the Aug. 16 incident.

He was taken into custody Sept. 2.

But why the investigation resulted specifically in a first-degree murder charge, rather than only child-neglect or abuse charges, is likely to receive much closer examination as the case progresses.

The publicly available arrest-report details do not tell the entire story.

That is exactly what Vinson’s attorney is emphasizing.

His Lawyer Says the Public Has Not Seen All the Evidence

At Vinson’s first court appearance on Sept. 8, defense attorney Gerald Webb urged the public not to reach conclusions based only on the information released so far.

Webb said the child’s death was not intentional.

He also said the arrest report does not contain all of the facts available to prosecutors and suggested that a fuller picture could significantly affect how the case is ultimately resolved.

Webb asked people to give his client the benefit of the doubt until additional evidence comes out.

The attorney also described Vinson as someone with no previous arrests and stressed that, whatever the criminal case ultimately determines, Vinson has also lost his nephew.

The child’s mother and the rest of the family will have to live with that loss permanently, Webb said.

The defense attorney expressed confidence that once the entire factual record is available, prosecutors will make what he considers the appropriate decision. He also suggested there could eventually be negotiations leading to some form of resolution.

Prosecutors, however, have declined to discuss the evidence publicly while the case remains pending.

His Bond Fell From $900,000 to $100,000

One of the most significant developments came through a joint order between the prosecution and defense.

Across Vinson’s four charges, his original total bond had been set at $900,000.

That was reduced to $100,000 under the agreement.

After posting the reduced bond, Vinson was released.

But his freedom comes with substantial conditions.

Vinson must wear a GPS monitor and stay away from specified locations.

The court has also ordered him not to supervise children who are not his own and prohibited him from contacting the immediate family of the child who died.

The reduction does not amount to prosecutors dropping or weakening the charges.

He still faces first-degree murder and three aggravated child-abuse counts.

Bond determines whether a defendant may remain outside jail while the criminal case is pending; it does not decide whether that person is guilty.

Vinson Had Been Building a Music Career

Before his arrest, Vinson was best known publicly as a member of CitiLimitz, an R&B trio from Chattanooga.

The group gained attention on TikTok and later appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2025.

Following Vinson’s arrest, CitiLimitz and its management said they would not publicly address the facts or circumstances surrounding the case.

The group said it planned to continue recording and honoring previously scheduled professional commitments during Vinson’s absence.

That places a young artist whose career had begun attracting national exposure at the center of a criminal prosecution that could have consequences far beyond music.

The Biggest Questions May Not Be Answered Until November

For now, the two sides are presenting dramatically different frames.

The arrest report describes a 4-year-old leaving the supervision of the adult entrusted with watching him, walking to a pool and remaining underwater for approximately nine minutes while that adult was not seen there on surveillance footage.

The state has charged Vinson with first-degree murder.

The defense says the death was not intentional and warns that important facts remain outside the public record.

Those competing narratives have not yet been tested through witness testimony.

Vinson’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 16 before Hamilton County General Sessions Judge Samantha Lunn.

That preliminary hearing is expected to be an important moment because investigators and others connected to the case may testify publicly for the first time.

Until then, several questions remain unanswered.

What exactly was happening while the two children walked away?

What do Vinson’s messages to the child’s mother show in their full context?

And what additional evidence does the defense say is missing from the arrest report?

The one point both sides cannot dispute is the tragedy at the center of the case.

A 4-year-old boy entered a swimming pool on Aug. 16.

Five days later, he was dead.

Now his 22-year-old uncle is free on bond while facing a first-degree murder charge — and a court will eventually have to decide whether the evidence supports the state’s accusation or the defense’s insistence that a devastating failure of supervision should not be treated as an intentional killing.