18-Year-Old Confesses to Fatally Shooting Pop Smoke

An 18-year-old man charged with the death of Pop Smoke confessed to killing the rapper during a home invasion in 2020, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The defendant admitted to a first-degree murder charge stemming from the Feb. 19, 2020, death of Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson. The man — whose name has been withheld from the court because he was a 15 at the time of Jackson’s death — was charged in juvenile court, and could remain incarcerated in a state juvenile facility until he turns 25. He also confessed to a home-invasion robbery charge and an allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the crime, per the Times.

The 18-year-old’s was one of the four men charged in the murder of the rapper; the admission comes after a 20-year-old man was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility, the Associated Press reported.

Jackson was shot and killed in Los Angeles on February 19 at the age of 20. LAPD responded to an emergency call at 4:20 a.m. after masked gunmen broke into a house where the rapper was staying; the Brooklyn native was shot multiple times and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.