Pop Smoke death: Five suspects arrested in shooting of rapper

Bashar Barakah Jackson died aged 20 in February

Pop Smoke performs during the Astroworld Festival on 9 November 2019 in Houston, Texas. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Five suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of rapper Pop Smoke.

Los Angeles police announced the arrests on Thursday, stating that three adults and two juveniles had been apprehended. The suspects have not been named so far.

Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, died aged 20 on 19 February at a home in the Hollywood Hills.

While authorities initially discounted the possibility that the artist’s death was related to a robbery, they say evidence is now supporting that theory.

Officials believe the rising rapper was shot and killed during a home-invasion robbery after his social media posts led five suspects to the house he was renting, police said after detectives arrested the group on Thursday morning.

Captain Jonathan Tippet, who oversees the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division, said three men and two teenage boys likely went to the home because they knew Pop Smoke was there from social media posts. They stole items from the home, though Capt Tippet said he could not divulge what was taken.

“We believe that it was a robbery. Initially we didn’t really have the evidence but then we discovered some other evidence that showed this was likely a home invasion gone bad,” Capt Tippet told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The five suspects were arrested on Thursday morning as detectives served several search warrants in Los Angeles. All are believed to be members of a South Los Angeles gang, which Capt Tippet would not name, and at least some of them are believed to be linked to a 2019 homicide when a fight escalated into a shooting outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Pop Smoke and his entourage staying at the home are not believed to be associated with the gang, Capt Tippet said. No one else was shot during the incident.

The artist arrived on the rap scene in 2018.

Earlier this year, Pop Smoke released the mixtape Meet the Woo 2, which debuted at number seven on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. It was the follow up to his first official release, Meet the Woo. The rapper also had the popular hit “Gatti” with Travis Scott and Jackboys and “Dior”.

Last week, Pop Smoke released his posthumous debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which was met with positive reviews. The 19-track album featured several guests including 50 Cent, Roddy Rich, Future, Swae Lee, Quavo and others.

The Associated Press contributed to this report