A Bay Area rapper was shot after refusing to turn over his watch during an armed robbery late Thursday inside an East Hollywood recording studio, according to police and sources.
Stacey Gilton, who raps under the name “Lil Yee,” suffered two gunshot wounds to the chest when an assailant interrupted the performer’s recording session and demanded his watch, according to an LAPD source who requested anonymity in order to discuss an open case.
Gilton was taken to an area hospital for surgery and his condition was critical but stable, the source said.
An LAPD spokesman, Officer Drake Madison, said police were flagged down and directed to the scene of the shooting just after 10 p.m. Thursday in the 4500 block of Melrose Avenue. They found the victim, 32, wounded by a suspect who had “fired several rounds at the victim during an attempted robbery,” Madison said in a statement.
Officers obtained a brief description of the suspect — a Black male in his mid to late 20s — who fled the scene in a vehicle in an unknown direction. No arrests had been announced as of early Friday afternoon in the shooting, which police said was not motivated by any gang rivalries.
Police are said to be investigating the possibility that the robbery was a set-up orchestrated by another rapper.
Gilton is a native of the Fillmore neighborhood in San Francisco, proudly touting his roots in a 2022 interview on influential music journalist Jeff Weiss’ website. According to the interview, he self-released hit single “War” in 2016; it has racked up nearly 5 million streams on Spotify.
Gilton credited the song with giving him “a platform. It gave me a fanbase” who connected with lyrics about wrestling with grief and mental health.
The shooting is the latest in a string of high-profile shootings and robberies of musical artists.
Local icon Nipsey Hussle was murdered outside his clothing boutique in South L.A. in 2019.
In February 2020, rising star Pop Smoke was gunned down in a home invasion after inadvertently posting his location in the Hollywood Hills on Instagram while in town visiting from New York.
And in 2022, three rappers — PnB Rock (born Rakim Allen), Compton’s Kee Riches (Kian Nellum) and Inglewood’s Half Ounce (Latauriisha O’Brien) — were killed in the L.A. area.
Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Le Vaughn — an influencer and the former boyfriend of “Gucci Flip Flops” rapper Bhad Bhabie — was shot in the hand during an altercation at a strip club near downtown L.A.
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