Two new suspects face charges in the robbery and murder of rapper PnB Rock, who was shot to death in September 2022 while dining at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, authorities said.
Tremont Jones was charged with two counts of robbery, conspiracy to rob the rapper and unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon, according to a criminal complaint filed in September. Another suspect, Wynisha Evans, was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Both Jones and Evans pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were arraigned in Compton Court last month, said Venusse Dunn, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities arrested the couple in May in connection with the murder of PnB Rock. However, since the charges had been brought to court as a separate case, separate from the main murder case, Jones and Evans remained largely unknown to the public. The new suspects’ charges came to light this week after Rolling Stone attended their most recent hearing in Compton on Monday.
The Times could not immediately reach lawyers for Jones and Evans.
PnB Rock, 30, whose legal name was Rakim Allen, had been dining at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles restaurant on Manchester Avenue with his girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, on Sept. 12 when a 17-year-old boy approached his table and demanded jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors alleged in court documents. The jewelry was valued at “several hundred thousand dollars,” prosecutors said.
After Allen rejected the teen’s demands, prosecutors alleged, the young man shot the seated rapper once in the chest and then twice more in the back. Seconds later, the teen allegedly threatened to shoot Sibounheuang in the head and removed several pieces of jewelry from Allen’s body before fleeing the restaurant with his father, alleged getaway driver Freddie Lee Trone.
In new court documents, prosecutors accused Jones of participating in the plot to rob Allen. Jones allegedly met Trone in a parking lot near Roscoe and spoke for several minutes before handing Trone an object covered with a towel, which prosecutors said was a firearm. Trone left and returned to the area to drop off his teenage son, who was wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, prosecutors alleged. Jones allegedly stayed and eventually left a nearby parking lot while the teen headed to the restaurant.
Evans was accused of fleeing with Trone after the shooting. She had known Trone since they were children, according to a recent prosecutor’s court filing, and viewed him as “a father figure” to her own son. After learning he was a suspect in the shooting, she approached Trone, prosecutors said in the filing. She allegedly rented a car and drove it from Los Angeles to Nevada “for safety,” according to the document.
An FBI-led task force found Trone in Las Vegas within several weeks and arrested him in late September. He was extradited to California, where he was charged with murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. His son faced the same charges. Trone’s wife, Shauntel Trone, who is not related to her son, was also charged in late September with burglary and hiding Trone and her son in her home before her eventual arrest.
Jones remains incarcerated at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles on $1 million bail, according to county jail records. Evans was released last week on her own recognizance as her non-violent charge fell under the county’s new zero-bail policy. The court installed the policy in July after criticizing the cash bail system for disfavoring people who do not have access to large amounts of money.
Jones, Evans and Trone are due in court for another hearing in December.
Philadelphia-born rapper PnB rock was known for his 2015 single “Fleek” and a hit song with Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci, “Everyday We Lit,” which reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. He also collaborated with other notable artists, such as Ed Sheeran and Chance the rapper.
Times staff writers James Queally, Richard Winton, Kenan Draughorne and the late Gregory Yee contributed to this report.
