Three years after Pop Smoke’s (real name Bashar Barakah Jackson) tragic murder, the case is nearing a close. Revered as one of the driving forces behind New York’s drill music scene, the late rapper’s vocals continued to be used on tracks as recently as Tyga’s song “Sunshine,” released last summer. Initially, five people were investigated in connection to his death, but only four were formally charged.
Now, according to the Associated Press, one of those men has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He previously pleaded guilty in Inglewood juvenile court to the charge of home invasion robbery. It is unclear if his four-year and two-month sentencing in a juvenile facility includes the voluntary manslaughter charge. But what is known at this time is that the judge preceding over the case “declined to apply the two years and eight months he has already spent in the juvenile hall toward his sentence.”
At the time of the slain, the defendant was just 17 years old (he’s 20 now), so his name was not released to the public. Neither was the identity of his co-defendant, who was 15 years old. The two other parties charged were Corey Walker (19 years of age at the time) and Keandre Rodgers (18 years old).
In the court testimony retrieved by the Los Angeles Times, a detective shared that Jackson was “in the shower when masked robbers confronted him. During a struggle, one attacker, who was 15, pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back.” Before fleeing the scene, they stole the rapper’s diamond-studded Rolex watch, which they later sold for $2,000.