LOS ANGELES _ Pop Smoke, a rising New York rapper, was fatally shot in a home in the Hollywood Hills early Wednesday, a law enforcement source confirmed.
Officers responded after someone calling from the East Coast reported that several suspects had entered their friend's home in Los Angeles shortly before 5 a.m. The person reported that at least one suspect was wearing a black mask and was armed with a handgun, said LAPD Capt. Steve Lurie.
When officers arrived at the home in the 2000 block of Hercules Drive they found the 20-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, with gunshot wounds.
He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Officers detained several people inside the house, but they were later released. Between two and six suspects fled the scene and have not been found, Lurie said.
The rapper's death comes days after his second mixtape "Meet the Woo 2" landed on the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 list at No. 7.
His breakthrough mixtape "Meet the Woo," released last year, has 280 million streams globally in addition to boasting high-profile cameos from Nicki Minaj and Skepta, according to a news release from the rapper's label Republic Records.
