Rapper Pop Smoke gunned down in Hollywood Hills home
Pop Smoke, a rising New York rapper, was fatally shot at a home in the Hollywood Hills early Wednesday, authorities said.
www.latimes.com
Pop Smoke, a rising New York rapper, was fatally shot in a home in the Hollywood Hills early Wednesday, law enforcement sources confirmed.
Officers responded after someone calling from the East Coast reported that several people, at least one of whom wore a black mask and was armed with a handgun, had entered their friend’s home in Los Angeles shortly before 5 a.m., said LAPD Capt. Steve Lurie.
When officers arrived at the $2.5-million home in the 2000 block of Hercules Drive, they found the 20-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, with gunshot wounds.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officers detained several people inside the house, but they were later released. Two to six suspects fled the scene and had not been found, Lurie said.
Investigators suspect the home where the rapper was staying was targeted by the assailants. In recent years, several home invasions in Los Angeles have been aimed at homes being rented by musicians, according to law enforcement sources.
Investigators are aware that the rapper may have inadvertently posted an image with the address on social media, the sources said.
However, Capt. Jonathan Tippet cautioned against ascribing a motive in the slaying given that the investigation is still in its early stages. Authorities are currently looking through footage from security cameras located throughout the neighborhood.
“There is a lot of social media information out there. The house is in a neighborhood surrounded by video cameras,” he said. “There is a lot of information available. We have some work to do.”
Photos and videos on Pop Smoke’s Instagram story showed him in L.A., getting a haircut on Tuesday, and posing by the infinity pool in the backyard of the Hollywood Hills home where he was staying. Later that evening, he posted a photo of the Los Angeles skyline from what appeared to be the home’s backyard.
The Hollywood Hills home is owned by Teddi Mellencamp of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” and her husband, Edwin Arroyave, according to property records. Mellencamp wrote on Instagram that she was informed about the shooting early Wednesday by a third-party leasing and management company that oversees the rental property.
“Foremost, we would like to extend our prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragic loss of life,” she wrote.
The rapper’s death came days after his second mixtape, “Meet the Woo 2,” landed at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 list. His breakthrough mixtape, “Meet the Woo,” released last year, has 280 million streams globally.
Pop Smoke was signed to Republic Records through Victor Victor Worldwide, according to the label.
“We are devastated by the unexpected and tragic loss of Pop Smoke,” said a Republic Records spokesperson. “Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family, friends and fans, as we mourn this loss together.”
For the TL;DR folks, here’s the relevant part of this article:
Since Pop Smoke is considered by law enforcement to be affiliated with a street gang authorities say his slaying would be considered a gang-related homicide. Detectives also suspect the assailants are likely gang members, but it has not been determined whether it was a killing motivated by gang rivalry, officials said.
The slaying comes at a tense moment in hip-hop, when a generation of young artists including Lil Peep and Juice Wrld have died of drug overdoses while others like XXXTentacion and L.A. rapper Nipsey Hussle have been killed in street violence.
