Two men suspected of gunning down a rapper in Koreatown in early October have been arrested and charged with murder, authorities said Friday.
Anthony King and Dennis Risinger were taken into custody Tuesday at separate locations in Long Beach, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
King, 36, and Risinger, 37, were booked that day and are being held without bail, jail records show.
The case against both men was presented to the L.A. County district attorney’s office Thursday, and murder charges were filed, police said.
Both King and Risinger are suspected in the Oct. 3 shooting death of 36-year-old rapper Half Ounce.
Officers were called around 11:30 p.m. that night to reports of shots fired in the 700 block of South New Hampshire Avenue, where a man was heard screaming, police said. When officers arrived, they found the victim suffering gunshot wounds in front of an apartment complex.
The following day, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office identified the victim as Latauriisha O’Brien, Half Ounce’s real name.
His death marked the third time a rapper was shot and killed in Los Angeles County in less than a month.
On Sept. 12, rapper PnB Rock, whose real name was Rakim Allen, was fatally shot during a botched robbery for the 30-year-old’s jewelry while he was having lunch at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles.
On Sept. 24, Kee Riches, 23, whose real name was Kian Nellum, was shot and killed in Compton along with 29-year-old Robert Leflore Jr.
The shootings appeared to be unrelated, but LAPD officials said they’d seen an increase in follow-home robberies, especially those targeting celebrities. Other artists, including Roddy Rich and Ice-T, condemned violence in Los Angeles and the recent killings of hip-hop artists.
