“Welcome to the Party” rapper Pop Smoke was shot and killed early Wednesday morning in an apparent home invasion robbery in Los Angeles. He was only 20 years old.
Sadly, the rapper had just tweeted about two hours before news of his death spread.
Law enforcement officials told TMZ that Pop Smoke was inside his rented Hollywood Hills home—owned by Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star Edwin Arroyave, the husband of Teddi Mellencamp—when two men wearing hoodies stormed into the house around 4:30 a.m., firing multiple gunshots and critically wounding Pop Smoke, whose birth name was Bashar Barakah Jackson. He was later pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood.
The two men were seen fleeing by foot.
Although cops initially had one potential suspect in handcuffs, they later learned he had nothing to do with the incident and he was later released. Officials tell the site that they haven’t identified other suspects.
Pop Smoke was best known for his summer jam, “Welcome to the Party.” Nicki Minaj later did a remix of the 2019 hit.
Nicki took to Instagram Wednesday to remember Pop Smoke. “The Bible tells us that jealousy is as cruel as the grave. Unbelievable. Rest In Peace, Pop,” she wrote in a cryptic Instagram caption.
Other celebrities took to social media to remember the late rapper. Here’s who saluted Pop:
R.I.P to my man Pop Smoke, No sympathy for winners. 🕊God bless him pic.twitter.com/5ZFa5ILUzl
— 50cent (@50cent) February 19, 2020