Did a father tell his teenage son to kill rapper PnB Rock? Jury to hear closing arguments in trial

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — Both sides in the murder trial of Philadelphia hip-hop star PnB Rock have agreed that a 17-year-old boy walked into a Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles restaurant in South Los Angeles and shot the rapper twice in the back and once in the chest.

Both sides agree that the boy’s father, Freddie Trone, a defendant in the trial, helped his son after the shooting and tried to cover up the killing.

But in a two-week closing argument Monday in Compton, California, prosecutors will argue that Trone sent the boy to the restaurant with a gun and orders to rob PnB Rock. The rapper, 30, was eating with his fiancée, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter.

Trone’s attorney has said he just isn’t guilty of any wrongdoing in the murder, emphasizing that he was not on the restaurant and didn’t pull the trigger. He said the evidence suggests his son acted alone.

Trone’s son is being held in the custody of the county juvenile justice system, and a judge has determined he just isn’t currently able to stand trial.

The Associated Press doesn’t typically report the names of juveniles accused of crimes.

PnB Rock, whose real name is Rakim Allen, is best known for his 2016 hit “Selfish,” in addition to guest appearances on songs by other artists resembling “Everyday We Lit” by YFN Lucci and “Cross Me” by Ed Sheeran featuring Chance the Rapper.

His murder trial, which didn’t happen in town center courthouse where probably the most high-profile trials are held, attracted little attention. The gallery remained almost empty, and the one media outlet that repeatedly reported it was Rolling Stone.

FBI agents arrested Trone in Las Vegas greater than two weeks after the Sept. 12, 2022, shooting in Las Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.

A co-defendant who was not charged with murder, Tremont Jones, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, one count of conspiracy and one count of possession of a firearm by an illegal person.

Prosecutors say Jones tipped off Trone concerning the rapper’s location and showed the jury surveillance footage of the 2 men talking outside a restaurant minutes before the killing.

Allen’s fiancée, Stephanie Sibounheuang, was the trial’s most dramatic witness, saying she had a “bad feeling” concerning the situation before they entered the restaurant. The couple was scheduled to fly home to Atlanta later that day.

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She tearfully testified that that they had just eaten at Roscoe’s when a gunman wearing a ski mask appeared, put a gun in Allen’s face and demanded all the couple’s jewelry, which she said was price lots of of hundreds of dollars.

Sibounheuang said he seemed like a child “who didn’t know what he was doing.”

She said the shooter fired at Allen, who pushed her out of the way in which and shielded her as he was shot. She called him a “hero” who saved her life.

The masked gunman then took Allen’s watch and other jewelry.

Surveillance footage shows he fled about a minute after entering.

Sibounheuang began applying pressure to Allen’s wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. The first police officer who arrived on the scene did the identical. The rapper was later pronounced dead.

The autopsy report showed that Allen was shot once in the chest and twice in the back.

Investigators determined Allen had a gun on him, but he said he didn’t draw it until he was shot.

Just before the shooting, Sibounheuang posted a photo of the couple eating on Instagram, but testified that she had removed the label that indicated which of Roscoe’s six Southern California restaurants that they had eaten at.

Authorities initially said the post can have prompted the robbery and shooting, but later backtracked and as an alternative blamed Jones for leading Trone and his son to the restaurant.

Surveillance footage from later in the day shows Trone and his son entering the apartment and leaving shortly after, with the son wearing different clothes and holding a garbage bag.

Prosecutors say Trone set the getaway automobile on fire several blocks from his home as a part of a cover-up.

Trone’s wife and the teenager’s stepmother, Shauntel Trone, was also arrested shortly after the shooting. Just before her trial, she pleaded guilty to accessory after the actual fact.