Murdered rapper Pop Smoke’s tomb is VANDALIZED by intruders who smashed through his headstone and tried to remove his casket
- Eyewitnesses saw that Pop Smoke’s tomb in Brooklyn had been significantly damaged on Saturday morning
- The headstone had been shattered and scratches suggested they may have tried to drag out the casket
- The rapper (born Bashar Barakah Jackson) was gunned down at age 20 on February 19, 2020, during a home invasion
Vandals smashed through the tomb of murdered rapper Pop Smoke and tried to remove his casket on Saturday morning.
Sources told TMZ that they found the tomb vandalized during a visit at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Photos of the destruction indicate that the slain rapper’s headstone had been smashed, and scratch marks indicated the vandals may have tried to pull out his casket.
The 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, was shot dead on February 19 at his $2.5million rental home in the Hollywood Hills.
The LAPD said the five suspects, including two boys aged 15 and 17, targeted his house when they saw pictures on his social media.
They narrowed down where he lived by using the images and an address posted on a gift bag, and then killed him during a robbery gone wrong, authorities say.
Shocking: The tomb of the slain rapper Pop Smoke was found severely vandalized on Saturday morning, sources who glimpsed it at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn told TMZ
Pop Smoke’s casket was interred in a mausoleum surrounded by several other caskets
An outer wall featured a headstone for the musician (born Bashar Barakah Jackson), but photos snapped by an eyewitness seem to indicate that vandals were able to remove the stone.
The top corners had been broken off and shards were scattered on the ground just below it while the remaining chunk of the stone had been leaned up against the tomb.
The ground in front of the stone was also littered with flowers, which may have been left prior to the vandalism, and what a witness said appeared to be burned marijuana joints.
Gone too soon: Pop Smoke was killed in February 2020 when four armed men broke into a rented house he was staying in as part of a robbery attempt; seen in January 2020 in Paris
Desecrated: The stone on the outside of Pop Smoke’s mausoleum tomb appeared to have been shattered and leaned up against the wall, indicating that the vandals got into the tomb
Photos of the vandalized tomb appear to show scratch marks on the pavement stones, indicating that something heavy may have been dragged out of the tomb.
It’s unclear if the intruders were able to pull out Pop Smoke’s casket, but the source who glimpsed the damage snapped a photo of a long rectangular object that was laid out against a stone wall across from the mausoleum.
The eyewitness described the item as being made of concrete and suggested it may have been a divider, either placed atop Pop Smoke’s casket to separate it from the casket above his tomb, or to the sides.
The person who discovered the damage reportedly alerted security, who were apparently unaware of the vandalism.
Disturbing: Photos of the vandalized tomb appear to show scratch marks on the pavement stones, indicating that something heavy may have been dragged out of the tomb
Hasty job: The witness returned to the seen hours later and found it blocked off with caution tape. Some of the debris had been cleared
The source who discovered the vandalism added that they returned to the site hours later and found that the damaged headstone had been replaced with a blank slab while caution tape has been put up around the area.
Although some of the stone shards had been cleaned up, the area appeared to still be in a state of disarray.
Pop Smoke, who was born in Brooklyn, was a rising star at the time of his tragic death early last year.
He had a string of popular singles starting in 2019, and he released two acclaimed mixtapes, Meet The Woo and Meet The Woo 2.
The latter, released on February 7, 2020, debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 album chart, making his first top 10 placing.
But the rapper would be gunned down less than two weeks after the success.
Tragedy: Pop Smoke was gunned down less than two weeks after releasing his second mixtape, Meet The Woo 2, which became his first top 10 release on the Billboard 200 album chart; seen in 2019 in LA
He had been renting a house in Hollywood Hills that was owned by former Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp and her husband.
In the early morning hours of February 19, 2020, four men in hoodies broke into the house.
The rapper was later found by police after being shot multiple times, and he was pronounced dead hours after being rushed to a hospital.
LAPD detectives initially believed the killing to be gang-related, but later determined that it was a robbery turned violent, as Pop Smoke had shared posts to Instagram in the days leading up to the killing that showed off pricy gifts he had recently received.
The address for the home was also clearly visible in at least one of the posts.
Violent end: In May, an LAPD detective testified that a woman with Pop Smoke at the time of the break-in said he was in the shower when the armed men confronted him. He ran out, only to be shot multiple times and kicked while on the ground
In May of this year, Detective Christian Carrasco of the LAPD testified during the murder trial that the rapper had been taking a shower at the time that the intruders entered via a second-story window, according to the New York Daily News.
The detective testified that a woman who was in the house with Pop Smoke heard noise that sounded like a struggle coming from the shower, before she saw him run out of the bathroom.
She then heard a gunshot and saw him fall to the floor.
The detective said the woman claimed she heard two more gunshots and saw the intruders kicking the rapper while he was down on the ground.
She also claimed that they took his ‘large gold watch.’
Following his murder, Pop Smoke’s debut album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon was released in July 2020 and topped the Billboard 200 chart.
It was followed by a second hit album, Faith, in July of this year. It was also a number one hit, though both albums received mixed reviews.
Robbery: LAPD detectives determined it was a robbery turned violent, as Pop Smoke had shared posts to Instagram in the days leading up to the killing that showed off pricy gifts; seen in 2019 in Houston, Texas
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