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Man pleads guilty in rapper Pop Smoke’s fatal 2020 Hollywood Hills shooting

February 5, 2025

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH

A 24-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of home-invasion robbery in connection with the 2020 shooting death of rapper Pop Smoke at a home in the Hollywood Hills.

Corey Walker, who was 19 at the time of the killing, faces 29 years in state prison. He also waived credit for the time he has already served behind bars since his July 9, 2020, arrest.

Walker is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom for sentencing Feb. 21.

One of Walker’s attorneys, Kellen Davis, said outside court that he believes his client has “come to terms” that “this is the best outcome under the circumstances,” but said Walker “has to carry the load for this” despite the fact that he was not the shooter and that the killing was “something Mr. Walker never wanted to happen.”

Walker — who admitted gang and gun allegations — could have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole if he had been tried and convicted on the original charges, which included murder and the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a robbery and murder during the commission of a burglary.

Walker was one of four people and the only adult arrested and charged in the killing of the 20-year-old rapper, whose real name was Bashar Jackson. The other three defendants were all charged in juvenile court, and their names were withheld because of their ages.

In 2023, one of the juvenile defendants, who was 15 at the time of the killing, admitted a first-degree murder charge in juvenile court, along with an allegation he personally discharged a handgun. He also admitted a home-invasion robbery count, and he is expected to remain in a juvenile facility until he turns 25.

That teenager could not be charged as an adult due to his age at the time of the crime.

Another juvenile defendant admitted one count each of voluntary manslaughter and home-invasion robbery, and the third admitted a charge of home-invasion robbery. The current custody status of those two defendants was not immediately clear.

Walker admitted a factual basis for his guilty plea, acknowledging that he became aware that the rapper was staying at the short-term rental home on Hercules Drive in the Hollywood Hills, and that he initially drove with the 17-year-old to surveil the house about 2:05 a.m. Feb. 19, 2020 and then returned with the three teenagers and another person — whose identity has not been released — shortly after 4 a.m. that day.

Walker replied “Yes” when Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams asked if he provided a 9mm firearm to one of the juveniles.

Walker also admitted that he had researched the Los Angeles Police Department and the house on the websites Zillow and Google, driven with the vehicle’s headlights off and kept an open line of communication with the 17-year-old while the rest of the group went inside the home. He acknowledged that the victim’s Rolex watch, along with jewelry and a purse, were taken from the home, and that the group later sold the watch for $2,000.

LAPD Capt. Steve Lurie said the 911 call that brought police to the Hercules Drive address came from someone on the East Coast who said a friend’s home was being broken into by multiple suspects, and that one of them was armed with a handgun.

“When officers arrived there approximately six minutes later, they discovered a victim inside the house had been shot,” Lurie said at the time. “They called the fire department, who arrived and transported that victim to Cedars-Sinai, where he was pronounced dead.”

The suspects were wearing masks and were last seen running from the home and possibly getting into a nearby vehicle. The four were taken into custody just under five months later.

Pop Smoke released an album in July 2019, and one of the songs, “Welcome to the Party,” was considered by some the song of the summer. Nicki Minaj did a remix of the song a few months later.

The rapper also collaborated with Travis Scott on a song called “Gatti.”

Pop Smoke was named top new artist, top rap artist and top male rap artist at the Billboard Music Awards in May 2021, while his “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” won top rap album and top Billboard 200 album.

The rapper’s mother, Audrey Jackson, accepted the top Billboard 200 album award on her late son’s behalf, saying then that she wanted to “thank the fans for honoring the life and spirit of my son so much that he continues to manifest as if he were still here in the flesh.”

“He created music for the kid who has to sleep four in a room, the kid who has to figure out how to get to school each day so he can graduate and make his mom proud,” she added. “He did this so that 14-year-olds would not have to kill to prove that they are somebody. That is the irony in this.”

According to various media reports, the New York rapper posted photos earlier on the day of the killing or late the night before from a party at the home, even revealing the address. According to TMZ, one of the photos showed a person holding a large sum of money.

Orange County Register

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Man pleads guilty in rapper Pop Smoke’s fatal 2020 Hollywood Hills shooting

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