A mural commemorating the late Pop Smoke in Brooklyn, New York has been vandalized with spray paint.
Photos of the damaged mural — which is located at 8125 Flatlands Ave. in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood — surfaced online on Wednesday (December 28).
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The spray paint appeared to depict the phrase “Woo K,” which likely stands for “Woo Killer.” It seems the vandals didn’t desecrate Pop’s actual portrait, and instead tagged the image next to him.
“Word to my dead yall niccas are mad childish like wtf,” read the caption of an Instagram Story photo of the tarnished mural.
The Brooklyn mural was designed by Hattas Public Murals five months after Pop Smoke was shot and killed in the Hollywood Hills in February 2020.
“Our hearts go out to the family, friends and fans of the late and beloved Pop Smoke,” Hattas wrote on Instagram while unveiling his work. “Much love to you all. And thank you to the community of #Canarsie for your overwhelming support as we painted this memorial mural. We are humbled and honored.”
This unfortunately isn’t the first time vandals have decorated Pop Smoke tributes. The late rapper’s grave was vandalized last September, with the criminals trying to remove Smoke’s casket.
“This was unnecessary, whoever you are,” the rapper’s mother, Audrey Jackson, wrote on Instagram next to a photo of the damaged crypt. “Whoever you are, you have my attention. Now what!?”
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The latest vandalization comes after Pop Smoke’s murder was thefocus of an episode of Hip Hop Homicides back in November, with an eyewitness detailing the rapper’s final moments.
Amelia Rose, who was with the Brooklyn rapper when he was gunned down during the fatal home invasion, told host Van Lathan she remembers Pop going upstairs to use the bathroom inside the Hollywood Hills home he was renting at the time. Moments later, the intruders broke into the home and waved a gun in her face.
“Pop said he was going upstairs. I’m sitting on the bed and I’m starting to take off my clothes, and he said: ‘OK, I’ll come back,’” she recalled. “He was going to the restroom and so these were his last words.”
“This moment, it was like a couple seconds and I hear the noise,” Rose continued as she described hearing a sliding glass door open into the second-story bedroom. “The guy was in the mask and his gun was like… ‘Look at me,’ you know? His eyes made me so scared. They run to the restroom. Pop screamed, ‘What?!’”
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Rose said the masked men then dragged Smoke out of the bathroom before firing the fatal gunshot and said she’s still haunted by nightmares of the incident.
Four men have since been charged in the rapper’s murder, including the alleged killer who was just 15 years old at the time. Police claim their motive was to steal Pop Smoke’s diamond-encrusted Rolex and Cuban link chain, but they only managed to swipe his watch and later sold it for just $2,000.
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One of the suspects, 21-year-old Corey Walker, confessed to a cellmate that the crew only found out about Pop Smoke’s location from his social media. Prior to the shooting, the rapper posted an Instagram Story of designer bags showing the address of his Airbnb on the packaging.
