Father and son charged with murder of rapper PnB Rock
A father and his 17-year-old son were charged with one count of murder for the slaying of late rapper PnB Rock, who was gunned down on Sept. 12.
Freddie Lee Trone was identified as a person involved in the murder of the rapper, whose real name is Rakim Allen. Police say a minor under the age of 18 was arrested on suspicion of murder Wednesday morning in Lawndale. Police say he is the son of Trone, who was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas by police, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Shauntel Trone, 32, was also arrested in Gardena as an accessory to murder, according to the LAPD. She is married to Trone and is the stepmother of the minor suspect, police said.
Freddie Trone, 40, and his son were charged Thursday with one count each of murder and conspiracy to commit robbery and two counts each of second-degree robbery, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced.
The rapper was having lunch at Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles on Manchester Avenue with his girlfriend on Sept. 12 when they were robbed and shot. According to the LAPD, the suspect shot PnB Rock and removed some of his property, then demanded his girlfriend's belongings. The suspect took off in a waiting vehicle, police said.
PnB Rock was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to LAPD Chief Michel Moore, PnB Rock's girlfriend had posted a geo-tagged to Instagram of them eating at the restaurant just before the shooting. The post has since been deleted, but not before raising questions about the dangers of posting real-time locations on social media, especially after the 2020 murder of rapper Pop Smoke in the Hollywood Hills.
He was sent to prison three times before PnB Rock's murder. In 2008, Trone started a six-year sentence for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon, but was released to post release community supervision in May of 2012, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He landed back in jail a month later for violating his probation.
A year later, Trone received his second strike in Sept. 2013 for assault.
Anyone with information about Trone or the shooting can contact South Bureau Homicide Divisions Detectives Nellie Knight or Matthew Clark at (323) 786-5146.
