COMPTON, Calif. — The two sides at the murder trial in the killing of Philadelphia hip-hop star PnB Rock agree that a 17-year-old boy walked into Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles restaurant in South Los Angeles, shot the rapper twice in the back and once in the chest. Both agree that the boy’s father, Freddie Trone, the defendant in the trial, helped his son after the shooting and tried to cover up the killing.
But in the two-week trial’s closing arguments set for a Compton, California, courtroom on Monday, prosecutors will argue that Trone sent the boy into the restaurant with a gun and with orders to rob PnB Rock. The rapper, 30, was eating with his fiancee, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter. Trone’s lawyer says he is in no way guilty of murder, and has emphasized that he was not in the restaurant and did not pull the trigger.
He said the evidence points to his son acting alone. Trone’s son is in custody of the county’s juvenile justice system, and a judge has found that he is not currently competent to stand trial. The Associated Press does not generally name minors accused of crimes.
PnB Rock, whose legal name is Rakim Allen, was best known for his 2016 hit “Selfish” and for making guest appearances on other artists’ songs such as YFN Lucci’s “Everyday We Lit” and Ed Sheeran’s “Cross Me” with Chance the Rapper. The trial in his killing, not held in the downtown courthouse that is home to most high-profile proceedings, has attracted little a.