Rapper found dead in barrel may be linked to Pop Smoke’s murder: officials
Authorities are investigating whether the man whose naked body was found stuffed in a barrel at a Florida beach was♔ killed in retal♔iation for the
The victim, i💜dentified as Javonnta Murphy, a 32-year-old singer-songw🍒riter from Sylmar, California, was killed with a gunshot to the head, according to an autopsy report.
His naked bodﷺy was discovered inside a sealed 55-gallon drum floating in the water off Malibu Lagoon State Beach on July 31.
Murphy was the older brother of Jaquan Murphy, who was one of five suspe▨cts of 20-year-old rapper Pop Smoke during a home-invasion robbery,
Jaquan Murphy, then aged 21, was initially charged with attempted murder in the rapper’s killing but he was later cleared in that case.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s detectives are now looking into the possibility that Javonnta Murphy’s shooting death was a revenge killing for the rhymester’s murder, according to TMZ’s law enforcement sources.
Cops believe that Pop Smoke, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, w🥂as killed in a home invasion﷽ after revealing the location of his AirBnB rental in social media posts.
The rapper had posted photos of himself posing next to an infinity pool inᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ the backyard, along with an image of the L.A. skyline.
In another post, the performer, or a member ♏of his entourage, shared a photoꦰ of a gift bag tagged with the Hollywood Hills address.
Another snapshot showed Pop Smoke standing next to a Range Rover, with the rental 🗹property address partly visible behind him.
In the early hours of Feb. 19, 2020, five suspects — one of them masked and armed with a gun — broke into the home and fired a volley of bullets, killing the young rapper.
The robbers were said to have fled with the lyricist’s diamond-encrusted Rolex, wh𒁏ich they later sold for $2,000.
The Los Angeles Police Department has previously said that the s꧃uspects were believed to b🧸e members of a South L.A. street gang.
Three of the suspectꦯs arrested 6 months later were identified as Jaquan Murphy, Corey Walker, 19, and Keandre Rodgers, 18.
The two remaining suspect🐟s were only described as a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy.
Police have previously said that it was the 15-yea🍷r-old who confronted Pop Smoke in the shower, pistol whipped him and then sho💝t him three times.
Jaquan Murphy, now aged♛ 24, is currently awaiting trial for an unrelated murder in Los Angeles County, reported TMZ.
His older brother, Javonnta 🃏Murphy, was an aspiring hip-hop artist who had justꦕ moved into his first apartment in Sylmar before he was killed, according to a family friend.
Patrick Nelson that Javonnꦛta was not involved in gang activity ☂and had no known enemies.
It remained unknown when the 32-year-old rap artist was killed before his body turned up on the Malibu beach, but Lt. Hugo Raynaga, with the Los Angeles C﷽ounty Sheriff’s Department, said that “it didn’t look decomposed or like it had been there for a long time.”
So far, no arrests ha🦹ve been made in connection 🌌with Javonnta Murphy’s slaying.
