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Three years after rapper Pop Smoke was shot dead at a rented home in Los Angeles, one of four men charged in the murder of the New York rapper during a robbery at his Hollywood Hills mansion has confessed to the killing.
On Friday, May 12, an 18-year-old suspect, who was reportedly 15 at the time of the 2020 killing, admitted to a first-degree murder charge in the death of Pop Smoke, a 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name was Bashar Barakah Jackson. The teen also admitted that he personally and intentionally pulled the trigger and shot the rapper three times in the back during the home invasion in 2020. As per multiple reports, the suspect's name is being withheld as he was a juvenile when he committed the crime.
Shortly after the rapper was fatally shot dead in 2020, two adult men and two teenagers were charged with his murder. The adult suspects were identified as Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers. However, authorities did not disclose the names of the teenagers, as they were 17 and 15 years old at the time of the incident.
As per Los Angeles Times, the 18-year-old suspect, who recently confessed to the killing, was reportedly charged as a juvenile and will remain behind bars for seven years. In addition to a first-degree murder charge, the teen suspect also confessed to a home-invasion robbery charge.
The recent murder confession from the now 18-year-old suspect comes in the wake of the other young suspect, who was 17 at the time of the murder, pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility in April 2023. The now 20-year-old suspect also pleaded guilty to a home invasion robbery charge.
What happened to Pop Smoke? Details of rapper's death revisited on heels of suspect's confession
On February 19, 2020, Brooklyn-born rapper Pop Smoke was shot and killed after four masked gunmen broke into a rented house where the rapper was staying while on a four-day trip to Los Angeles. Authorities said that while the robbery was in progress, law enforcement officers received a 911 call on reports of a home invasion by a friend of someone inside the residence.
Authorities said that the armed burglars knew where to find the rapper as he had posted a photograph on social media of a gift bag he had received with his rented home address on a label.
As per the Times, one of the four men, identified as the then 15-year-old suspect, pistol-whipped the rapper during a struggle and shot him three times in the back after breaking into the rapper's home. The suspects then fled the scene.
Nearly five months after the incident, in July 2020, authorities arrested two men, identified as Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers and two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, in connection to the killing of the rapper Pop Smoke.
At the time, authorities said that Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers will be charged with murder during a robbery and burglary, which made them eligible for the death penalty, or life in prison without parole.
