49ers' Keion White Argued W/ Lil Baby & Crew Before Shooting ... According To Report

The investigation into the shooting of Keion White just took a wild turn ... because of what reportedly happened between the 49ers DE and rapper Lil Baby before the shots rang out just hours after the Super Bowl.

According to The San Francisco Standard, which says it's seen the police report, 27-year-old White and Baby got into an argument after the Grammy-winning rapper and his friends were turned away from the third-year pro's private event at a local SF lounge.

Per the outlet, a witness told police he saw the verbal argument and went to get help from bar staff ... before he heard two gunshots ring out. When the witness returned, he discovered White had been shot in the ankle area.

Police arrived on the scene just after 4 AM and entered the club to investigate ... discovering "numerous scantily clad females picking up dollar bills that were strewn all over the floor."

When cops made contact with White, the report claims he was uncooperative.

Investigators retrieved footage from surveillance cameras at the scene and found an abandoned cell phone. They also located a 9mm and .45 caliber casing near the scene.

The local outlet's report comes after The Athletic on Monday reported the altercation did NOT involve White, who was at the time thought to be minding his own business when he was hit with the bullet. The new info, again courtesy of the SF Standard, calls that version of the story into question.

For their part, cops said in a statement that a "preliminary investigation revealed a verbal altercation occurred between two groups inside a business. The victim was injured when shots were fired by an unknown suspect."

Social media posts and an event page show the rapper was in the Bay Area for the Super Bowl -- including a post from his own Instagram from a suite at Levi's Stadium -- but there's nothing, outside of the news story, linking the star rapper to the lounge where the violent incident went down.

Neither side has commented on the situation.