TSR Updatez: More details of the tragic slaying of the late Pop Smoke continue to be revealed during the preliminary hearing for one of his murder suspect’s trial.
As we previously reported, two adults and two juvenile males were arrested in connection to Pop Smoke’s shooting and now it’s being revealed that the actual gunman was only 15 years old, the New York Daily News reports.
A Los Angeles Police Department detective testified Friday that the teen and his alleged accomplices were after Pop Smoke’s diamond-studded Rolex and other jewelry when they allegedly stormed Pop’s Airbnb rental in the Hollywood Hills. The investigator testified the suspects were only able to get away with the watch, which they later resold for just $2,000.
The detective said the teen gunman, who is the youngest of the four defendants, slipped up in jail when he allegedly admitted his role in the slaying during a recorded interview with a cellmate at a juvenile detention center last May.
“He admitted that he shot the victim three times with a Baretta 9 (mm.),” LAPD Det. Carlos Camacho testified Friday at a preliminary hearing for Corey Walker, 20, the sole adult defendant.
“They got into a fight, and he shot him three times,” Camacho said, citing the teen’s recorded jail interview. “He said he shot him on the back.”
The teen has not been identified due to his age, but Walker has pleaded not guilty in the case even though he also allegedly blabbed in jail. Camacho alleges Walker confessed to his role during a separate, secretly recorded jailhouse interview with a different informant placed in his cell.
Walker allegedly admitted the group used ski masks, gloves and a police scanner to try to evade getting caught.
“He said that when the individuals got inside, the suspects confronted (Pop Smoke), who was in the shower naked,” Camacho testified.
During his recorded conversation, Walker allegedly told the informant the teens stormed the home and demanded Pop Smoke’s jewelry, which he was still wearing, and even said “Thank you” when it appeared he was complying, according to Camacho.
But things went left when Pop reportedly decided to fight back and rushed the suspects before he was pistol whipped and then shot in the chest.
Walker’s defense lawyer Christopher Darden (yes, from the OJ trial) made a motion to have Walker’s murder charge dismissed, arguing that Walker was only the driver that night. Darden also claimed that Walker even told his accomplices not to shoot anybody.
“He’s clearly not an aider and abettor of premeditated murder,” Darden argued. “At most, he’s a principal in a robbery… He’s a driver. He is outside.”
But Williams said Walker had scouted the house hours earlier and knew the teens planned to rob Pop Smoke at gunpoint to obtain the ice he flashed in his Instagram photos earlier that day.
“They specifically target this house wanting this victim to be there,” Williams said, saying Walker’s actions showed a “reckless indifference to human life.”
Judge H. Clay Jacke II denied Darden’s request to reduce the charges and ruled there was “sufficient cause” to send Walker to trial. Walker is slated to go back to court June 3 for rearraignment.
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