LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Five suspects were arrested on Thursday in the killing of rap music artist Pop Smoke, who was shot to death inside his Hollywood Hills home during a reported break-in earlier this year, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The suspects – three adult men and two juvenile males – were taken into custody in a series of raids conducted under search warrants throughout the city of Los Angeles, an LAPD spokeswoman, officer Norma Eisenman, said.
The arrests were all made without incident, she said. No further details about the suspects or their alleged connection to the killing were immediately available.
The 20-year-old Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, was found by police shot inside his rented multimillion-dollar house before dawn on Feb. 19. He died of his wounds at a hospital some hours later.
Police said they were dispatched to Jackson’s home in response to an emergency 911 call reporting a break-in. According to police, eyewitnesses told investigators they saw two to six suspects, at least one of whom wore a mask.
The rapper, who was born in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, was perhaps best known during his short career for the July 2019 single “Welcome to the Party,” which many considered last year’s song of the summer. A remix released a few months later featured rapper Nicki Minaj.
According to various media reports cited by the Los Angeles City News Service, Jackson had posted photos on social media hours before his killing from a party at the home revealing the property address, with one of the photos showing a person holding a large sum of money.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Eureka, Calif.; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
