Brooklyn-born rapper Pop Smoke fatally shot at Hollywood home
MOUNT OLYMPUS, California (WABC) -- Brooklyn-born rapper Pop Smoke was fatally shot inside a multi-million dollar home in the prominent Hollywood Hills area in Los Angeles early Wednesday, multiple high-ranking law enforcement officials tell ABC News.
Officers responded to the 2000 block of Hercules Drive just before 4:30 a.m. after an unknown number of suspects entered the home and shot the 20-year-old, whose real name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, according to Los Angeles police.
Pop Smoke was visiting the home, police said, and he was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"The radio call was called in by someone from back east and stated a friend of their's home was being broken into by multiple suspects and that one of them was armed with a handgun," LAPD Captain Steve Lurie said. "When officers arrived, there approximately six minutes later, they discovered a victim inside the house had been shot. They called the fire department and transported that victim to Cedars Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead some hours later."
At least one suspect wearing a black ski mask was last seen fleeing on foot on Hercules Drive.
Pop Smoke was recently arrested by federal prosecutors in Downtown Brooklyn for allegedly stealing a black 2019 Rolls-Royce that he had borrowed for a music video in California.
His breakout hit, "Welcome to the Party," was released last summer.
He was one of five rappers the NYPD prevented from performing at the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival in Queens last October because they were "affiliated with recent acts of violence citywide."
Earlier this month, he released the album "Meet the Woo 2," which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. It was the follow up to his first official release," Meet the Woo," last July.
He also had the popular hit "Gatti" with Travis Scott and Jackboys and "Dior."
The home where he was killed is owned by Edwin Arroyave and his wife Teddi Mellencamp, daughter of singer John Mellencamp and star of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
"We were informed by a 3rd party leasing and management company overseeing a rental home we own in Los Angeles that a shooting had taken place at the property," Teddi Mellencamp posted on Instagram. "Foremost, we would like to extend our prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragic loss of life."
Tributes to Pop Smoke, a Canarsie native, have been popping up on social media.
Nicki Minaj, who recorded a "Welcome to the Party" remix, posted on Instagram that "The Bible tells us that jealously is as cruel as the grave. Unbelievable. Rest in Peace, Pop."
In an article that ran on Rolling Stone's website last week, Pop Smoke said that his lyrical style was more of a freestyle.
"I never wrote (down) anything," he told Rolling Stone. "It's all up my head. Everything that I be writing, everything that I be saying, when it comes to these types of songs, just be so natural. Just how I be feeling. However, some songs I do write, and you'll know the ones that I write, 'cause you'll feel it.... I used to write poetry and all that crazy (expletive). Spoken word."
The death comes about 11 months after rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed in Los Angeles, and on a day when the man charged with killing him, Eric R. Holder, appeared in court for a hearing. Holder, who has pleaded not guilty, is expected to go to trial by April.
In July, up-and-coming Philadelphia rapper Bankroll Gambino, 21, was shot and killed during a music video shoot there. And in June 2018, 20-year-old rapper XXXTentacion was gunned down while leaving a Miami motorcycle shop.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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