Pop Smoke death: 5 people arrested in connection with rapper’s murder

Five people have been arrested in connection with the February home-invasion death of rapper Pop Smoke in Los Angeles.

Three men and two juveniles were arrested on Thursday, police confirmed.

The 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was killed Feb. 19 at a home in the Hollywood Hills. A 911 call from a friend of someone in the house reported armed intruders inside the home, police previously said.

Police announced the arrests Thursday on Twitter. Additional information was not immediately available.

“LAPD Detectives have arrested three adult males & two juvenile males related to the Feb. 19 murder of Bashar Jackson, a New York-based rapper known as Pop Smoke. We will provide further details as they become available,” the LAPD HQ Twitter account revealed.

Authorities did not initially believe the rapper’s death was related to a robbery. The home where the shooting occurred is owned by Edwin Arroyave and his wife Teddi Mellencamp, daughter of Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer John Mellencamp and a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Pop Smoke was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead on Feb. 19.

Teddi Mellencamp previously said on Instagram that the couple had been notified of the shooting at their rental property but knew no more than what they had seen in media reports.

The Make It Rain rapper’s record label, Republic Records, confirmed his death in a statement at the time, saying, “We are devastated by the unexpected and tragic loss of Pop Smoke. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family, friends and fans, as we mourn this loss together.”

Pop Smoke’s posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon was released last Friday, nearly five months after he was shot and killed.

Pop Smoke’s posthumous album includes features from Lil Baby, DaBaby, Future, Migos‘ Quavo, Swae Lee, Rowdy Rebel, 50 Cent, Roddy Ricch, Tyga, Karol G, Lil Tjay and King Combs.

It was initially set to be released on June 12, but was pushed back to July 3 because of the ongoing protests against anti-Black racism and police brutality that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States.

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His family announced a non-profit foundation named Shoot for the Stars, which the rapper founded before his death, with a focus on helping inner-city youth and helping to turn “their pain into Champagne by making their dreams a reality.”

Earlier this year, 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. He also had the popular hit Gatti with Travis Scott and Jackboys and Dior.

⁠—With files from The Associated Press