One of four men charged with the murder of rapper Pop Smoke during a robbery at a Hollywood Hills mansion has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — One of four men charged with the murder of rapper Pop Smoke during a robbery at a Hollywood Hills mansion pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter.
The 20-year-old man, who was 17 when the murder occurred, also pleaded guilty in Inglewood juvenile court to burglary. He was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility.
The judge prohibited public use of his name because he was a minor at the time of the shooting.
The 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was murdered on February 19, 2020 in a rented house where he was staying during a four-day trip to Los Angeles. A 911 call from a friend of someone at the home reported armed intruders inside the home, police said.
The thieves knew the address because a day earlier, Jackson had posted a photo on social media of a gift bag he had received and the address was on a label, authorities said.
Jackson was in the shower when masked robbers confronted him. During a fight, a 15-year-old attacker pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back, according to court testimony cited by the Los Angeles Times.
The attackers stole Jackson’s diamond-encrusted Rolex watch and sold it for $2,000, a detective testified.
The teenager, whose name is also being withheld, was charged in the case along with Corey Walker, 19 at the time, and Keandre Rodgers, then 18. They are charged with murder during the commission of a robbery. and home invasion.
Pop Smoke arrived on the rap scene in 2018 and broke out with “Welcome to the Party,” a gangsta anthem boasting about gunfights, murder and drugs that became a huge sensation, prompting Nicki Minaj to drop a verse at a remix.
He had several other hits including the album “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon” which was released posthumously.
