Philadelphia Rapper PnB Rock Shot, Killed At Roscoe's Chicken And Waffles In L.A.

A rapper originally from Philadelphia was shot and killed during what police say was a brazen mid-afternoon robbery attempt at a Los Angeles restaurant.

PnB Rock, whose given name was Rakim Hasheem Allen, 30, was shot at approximately 1:23 p.m. PT on Monday while dining with his girlfriend at the Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles in south Los Angeles, the L.A. Times and L.A. ABC affiliate KABC reported. He was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead at 1:59 p.m.

In a Monday afternoon press conference, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Kelly Muniz explained more about the investigation.

"The victim was sitting at a table eating with a female witness when he was approached by the suspect," Muniz told reporters. "The suspect then brandished a firearm and demanded his property."

"The suspect then shot the victim multiple times, then removed property and then left the location in a getaway car," she added.

Sources told the Times that they believe Rock was targeted for his jewelry. According to TMZ, the rapper posted a video to his Instagram account earlier in the day that depicted him wearing expensive jewelry, and multiple outlets report that Rock's girlfriend and the mother of one of his two children, Stephanie Sibounheuang, posted a now-deleted picture of their meal on her Instagram account tagged to their location shortly before the robbery.

Muniz told reporters that they were investigating the social media post and whether it was, in fact, tied to the robbery.

Police are also reportedly looking at surveillance video from the restaurant and surrounding businesses in order to help identify the shooter and the getaway car, the Times reported.

Just 10 days before his murder, the podcast "Off the Record with DJ Akademiks" released an episode in which Rock spoke about two prior robbery attempts since having moved to Los Angeles.

In the first, Rock said he'd been out with Sibounheuang and their daughter mid-pandemic when they became victims of an attempted robbery.

"Where I’m from, we like sneaky criminals," Rock said of the incident. "In L.A. … they bold."

Rock added that he'd gotten more careful in public after the death of his brother, whose death he mentioned on Twitter in 2016.

Rock's first release was a 2014 mixtape, which was based on lyrics he wrote while incarcerated, a period which ended in 2013. The mixtape garnered him a deal with Atlantic Records, where he released two more mixtapes that included the singles "Fleek" (2015) and "Selfish" (2016), which hit 51 on Billboard's Hot 100. He was featured on Atlanta-based rapped YFN Lucci's single “Everyday We Lit" in 2016, which hit 33 on the Hot 100 and is both artists' highest-charting song.

He subsequently released two singles on the soundtrack for the movie "The Fate of the Furious" (the eighth installment in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise) in 2017 and his first studio album, "TrapStar Turnt PopStar" in 2019. 

On British pop star Ed Sheeran's 2019 album, "No.6 Collaborations Project," Rock and Chance the Rapper participated in the single "Cross Me." In January 2020, he released a single with L.A.-based rapper Pop Smoke, "Ordinary"; Pop Smoke was killed a month later in a home invasion robbery allegedly connected to a geotagged social media post, Oxygen.com reported at the time.

Rock's last single, "Luv Me Again," was released on Sept. 2.

"PnB Rock" refers to the intersection in northwest Philadelphia where the rapper grew up — Pastorius and Baynton — according to TMZ.

He is survived by his two daughters and his girlfriend, Sibounheuang.