Nearly two years after rapper PnB Rock was gunned down in a South Los Angeles restaurant during a robbery, a man was convicted of his murder.
Freddie Lee Trone was found guilty Wednesday by a jury in a Compton courtroom after deliberating for less than four hours, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. In addition, Trone and another defendant, Tremont Jones, were convicted of two counts of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
For the record:
4:38 p.m. Aug. 7, 2024An earlier version of this article stated that Tremont Jones and Freddie Lee Trone were found guilty of murder. Only Trone was convicted of murder.
PnB Rock, 30 — whose legal name was Rakim Allen — walked into the Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles on Sept. 12, 2022, wearing “several hundred thousand dollars” worth of jewelry, prosecutors said. The bling caught the eye of Jones, who authorities say set in motion the deadly robbery.
Jones notified Trone about the potential mark. And Trone then sent his 17-year-old son, armed with a gun and a ski mask, into the eatery to steal Allen’s jewelry, prosecutors said.
Authorities allege that the masked teen walked up to Allen while he was seated at a table, pulled a gun and demanded his jewelry and other valuables.
But Allen refused, prosecutors said, and that’s when the teenager shot him first in the chest and then twice more in the back. The teen — who was not identified because of his age — then threatened to shoot Allen’s fiancee, Stephanie Sibounheuang, and stole several pieces of jewelry from Allen’s body before fleeing the restaurant with his father, according to a criminal complaint filed against the boy weeks after the killing.
After the verdict was read, Allen’s mother, Deannea, told Rolling Stone, “I wanted to jump up and scream, ‘Hallelujah.’ I’m so happy it was quick. We got justice for Rakim. I feel better knowing they’ll be in jail for a long time.”
Trone, 42, repeatedly denied his involvement in the shooting during the murder trial, according to the Associated Press.
“I understand you’re trying to put together your story,” Trone testified during cross-examination on Monday. “I never had nothing to do with it. I wasn’t there. I didn’t tell nobody to do nothing. I didn’t hand nobody no gun.”
He testified during the trial that he was at Roscoe’s to “drum up” business for his beauty supply shop and buy marijuana.
Trone was the only defense witness called to the stand. He admitted that the robbery was “heinous” and that his son, who has not been tried yet, was “dangerous,” according to reporting from the AP.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Timothy Richardson emphasized during the trial that even someone who doesn’t pull the trigger can be guilty of felony murder when they are a “major participant” who acted with “reckless indifference to human life.”
“A robbery is inherently dangerous,” Richardson said. “It’s up close and personal.”
Both men will be sentenced on Aug. 27 and the teenager is scheduled for a mental competency proceedings on Aug. 28. Another defendant, Shauntel Trone, pleaded no contest to accessory after the fact in July and is scheduled to be sentenced in January.