Less than ten days after the shooting death of Kee Riches in Compton and 21 days following the murder of Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock during a robbery at a South L.A. Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, another up-and-coming rap artist has reportedly been shot and killed in our city’s streets.
Multiple news reports claim that a 33-year-old man named Lataurissha O'Brien, also known as the Inglewood-affiliated rapper “Half Ounce,” was shot and killed last night in Koreatown, amid reports of multiple shots being heard around 11:30 pm.
According to CBS, the police had difficulty finding any victims of the shooting upon arrival at the 700 block of South New Hampshire Avenue until finding O’Brien in an apartment building’s planter with multiple gunshot wounds. The man was pronounced dead on the scene and later identified by his wife. The pregnant woman told police she had been speaking on the phone with O’Brien, a father of three, as he was walking on the street following a shift at his job with UPS.
Law enforcement claims that two people in a dark SUV are suspected of driving up to the victim, before an adult male passenger exited the vehicle to open fire on him, before getting back in and fleeing the scene. Another SUV on the scene had its window shattered in the crossfire. Surveillance footage is being sought from nearby buildings and businesses.
As Half Ounce, O’Brien has been posting his music and videos to Instagram and YouTube for over five years, gaining a social media following of over 14,000 followers on the former. His songs and self-image revel in an L.A. gangster lifestyle, heavy on Bloods-affiliations, with the perpetual flashing of Piru tats and Phillies’ “P” hats, gang signs, tags and placas, and rattling off the supposed offenses of nicknamed associates in songs and videos.