18-Year-Old Confesses To Killing Pop Smoke

In April, one of four men charged in the February 2020 killing of rising rap star Pop Smoke was sentenced to four years and two months by the juvenile court in Inglewood, California. Now, an 18-year-old man has admitted to killing the Brooklyn rapper (born Bashar Barakah Jackson) when he was 15.

The 18-year-old appeared in juvenile court on Friday with a 19-year-old and 20-year-old man who have also been charged. Both the 18-year-old and 19-year old (whose names are being withheld due to their ages at the time of the crime) will likely remain in juvenile custody until they turn 25.

Only one of the four men who charged in Pop Smoke’s killing — Corey Walker — is being charged in adult court because he was 19 at the time of the crime and is now 22. He is currently awaiting a pretrial hearing scheduled for June 16 in LA.

Pop Smoke was killed when a group of attackers broke into the Airbnb he was renting during a trip to Los Angeles. In 2021, an LAPD detective Carlos Camacho testified that the motive for the attack was to steal a diamond-studded Rolex they’d seen Pop Smoke wearing in social media posts, which they later sold for $2,000.