5 Arrested In Connection With Pop Smoke’s Murder: Report
Rising Brooklyn rap star Pop Smoke, born Bashar Jackson, was killed in Los Angeles this past February at the age of 20, less than two weeks after his stellar Meet The Woo 2 mixtape dropped. Now, just days after the release his posthumous album Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, police have reportedly made some arrests related to his case.
TMZ reports that LAPD has arrested five people Thursday in connection with Pop Smoke’s murder, three adults plus two juveniles. It’s unclear what charges they’re facing, but all five are scheduled to be interviewed by police and booked.
Four masked gunmen were reportedly involved in Pop Smoke’s killing in an apparent home invasion robbery at his Hollywood Hills rental. However, in a New York Times report a few days later, police suggested that some of the usual signs of a robbery, such as ransacking, were not present at the scene. “There were a couple of items that were taken, but some of the things you would think would be taken weren’t even really looked for,” Captain Jonathan L. Tippet told the NYT. “So that’s why we’re not really saying that it was a robbery or that he was the intended target.” Tippet suggested Pop Smoke’s social media posts could have tipped off potential intruders to his location: “It’s an angle we’re looking at. It also extends the pool of people that would have known where he was at and could have targeted him for a variety of reasons.”