An 18-year-old man who was charged in the 2020 fatal shooting of Pop Smoke has confessed to killing the rapper during a home invasion in Hollywood Hills.
The Los Angeles Timesreports the suspect, who was 15 years old at the time of Pop Smoke’s murder, admitted this week to a first-degree murder charge stemming from the killing of the Brooklyn rapper (born Bashar Barakah Jackson). Jackson was fatally shot on Feb. 19, 2020 at the age of 20. A group of attackers broke into an Airbnb where Pop was staying, shooting and killing him.
The 18-year-old suspect has also confessed to a home-invasion robbery charge as well as an allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the crime.
“That man lost his life over no good reason. … You have no right to take somebody’s life. You have no right to take somebody’s property,” L.A. County Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Smith told the suspect, along with his 19-year-old co-defendant, in a juvenile court hearing on Friday.
The suspect is expected to remain in a juvenile facility until he reaches the age of 25.
Only one of Pop Smoke’s murder suspects, 22-year-old Corey Walker, is being charged in adult court, as he was 19 years old at the time of the rising rapper’s death. Two other men, both of which were minors at the time of the crime, have also been charged in connection with Pop Smoke’s killing.
