Rapper PnB Rock performs in 2019 on the 92.3 Actual Avenue Competition at Honda Heart in Anaheim. (Scott Dudelson / Getty Pictures)
One of many first issues lawyer Daybreak Florio informed PnB Rock when she started representing the rapper was to watch out about what he posted on social media and when.
Keep away from sharing a particular location till you’ve got left, and by no means publish your present location, Florio remembers telling him.
“You can’t inform folks the place you are going to be,” she mentioned.
On Monday, Rock was having lunch at Roscoe’s Home of Rooster and Waffles in South Los Angeles.
He was killed during a botched robbery after being focused for his jewellery, police mentioned. A suspect brandished a firearm contained in the restaurant and demanded gadgets from Rock, who was shot after a short battle with the assailant.
Chief Michel Moore mentioned Tuesday that the Los Angeles Police Division is investigating whether or not the killing stemmed from an Instagram post by the rapper’s girlfriend that geotagged Roscoe’s, at Important Avenue and Manchester Avenue. It was shared minutes earlier than the taking pictures.
Police mentioned they’re looking for the gunman and making an attempt to find out a motive, so it could take time to know what position the publish performed within the slaying of the 30-year-old rapper, whose actual identify was Rakim Allen. However the taking pictures has reignited dialogue of the hazards of the real-time use of social media by celebrities who publish about their areas and luxurious possessions.
This has been a difficulty for greater than a decade, courting again to a bunch of younger L.A. thieves recognized as the Bling Ring, who focused the properties of celebrities after seeing their jewellery and different valuables in social media posts.
Extra lately, rapper Pop Smoke was gunned down in 2020 at a Hollywood Hills rental throughout a botched theft. The younger Brooklyn rapper, whose actual identify was Bashar Jackson, had posted a photograph of a black reward bag from luxurious clothes model Amiri that uncovered the tackle of the rental the place he was staying. Police mentioned a 15-year-old noticed the publish and hatched a plan with three others to rob the rapper of his gold chain and diamond-studded watch, which led to the killing.
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Police say such crimes linked to social media are uncommon. However Moore mentioned he is involved concerning the proliferation of weapons on the streets being utilized by robbers concentrating on victims for high-end jewellery.
Florio would not suppose Rock was focused due to the Instagram publish.
“I consider he in all probability was adopted. It doesn’t make sense to me that the murderers had been stalking her social media posts,” Florio mentioned. “What his girlfriend did was very harmless. I can’t fault her for that.”
Regardless, police are investigating whether or not the publish led to Rock’s slaying.
The rapper “was together with his household — together with his girlfriend or some sort of pal of his — and as they’re there, having fun with a easy meal, [he] was brutally attacked by a person who apparently [came] to the placement after a social media posting,” Moore mentioned.
Pop Smoke and Rock’s slayings spotlight a pattern in Los Angeles of “observe residence” robberies and different violent assaults, a few of which have particularly focused rappers.
Wakko the Child was shot Sept. 1 at his residence in North Hollywood and informed The Occasions he believed the assault occurred after he confirmed off cash and jewellery on social media accounts.
“It’s a well-liked factor in hip-hop and popular culture to indicate off wealth and new garments and jewellery and good automobiles,” the rapper said Monday. “It’s all a part of it; it’s glitz and glamour.”
Distinguished rappers Nicki Minaj and Cardi B took to Twitter to hash out whether or not Rock was focused due to his girlfriend’s publish — or if he was simply within the mistaken place on the mistaken time.
“After Pop Smoke there’s no means we as rappers or our family members are nonetheless posting areas to our whereabouts. To indicate waffles & some fried rooster????!” Minaj tweeted.
Cardi clapped again that the crime possible had extra to do with the neighborhood than with the girlfriend’s Instagram publish.
“He was in a nasty location and folks keep outdoors plotting. It’s very irresponsible and thoughtless accountable her for one thing so tragic,” Cardi B tweeted.
Florio says there’s a widespread denominator within the spate of crimes towards rappers.
“When you have got jewellery, you’re a goal,” she mentioned.
The hazards of real-time social media posts pose safety questions for anybody with a considerable on-line following.
A housebreaking crew with ties to a South L.A. gang followed celebrities’ posts and famous once they’d be away from residence, then pounced, prosecutors mentioned in 2018. The group focused Los Angeles Dodger Yasiel Puig’s San Fernando Valley residence, in addition to that of rapper Chief Keef. In these circumstances, the gang tried to keep away from confrontations by concentrating on the properties once they knew the celebrities wouldn’t be round, authorities mentioned.
Even the Kardashian household mentioned they had been going to change how they used social media following the 2016 theft of Kim Kardashian in Paris. One of many alleged members within the armed theft mentioned he and his crew tracked her movements online and through social media.
“We’ve been in a position to modify and make some modifications in the best way that we publish [on social media], however by no means do I would like this to have an effect on the guts of the household,” matriarch Kris Jenner mentioned in 2016. “You’re placing your life on the market in actual time. We’re now taking much more precaution.”
It’s an issue with which influencers, who stay their lives beneath the eyes of web strangers, are acquainted. Protecting their location and private info non-public may also help forestall stalking, doxxing, harassment — or worse.
“With real-time posting, it’s important to be additional cautious,” mentioned Brian Nelson, who works with influencers by his advertising company the Community Impact. “What I inform them to do is to shoot all the pieces on digicam roll after which publish after they depart the placement.”
Occasions employees writers Brian Contreras and Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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