Deputies raid rapper YG’s Hollywood home in connection with fatal shootout

Authorities executed a search warrant at the Hollywood Hills home of rapper YG on Thursday in connection with a police pursuit and shootout that left one man dead earlier this month.

Homicide detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department served the warrant at the home in the 1600 block of Blue Jay Way on Thursday morning, said Deputy Grace Medrano, a spokeswoman for the department.

They arrested one man, Tyquan Williams, 29, on an unspecified weapons charge, she said. Several other people were detained and released.

Keenon Jackson, otherwise known as YG, lives at the home but was not there when the warrant was served, according to investigators.

Jackson is the registered owner of an armored Cadillac SUV that led sheriff’s deputies on a pursuit through Compton and Inglewood on July 3, the Sheriff’s Department confirmed.

The rapper has tweeted that he was not in the vehicle at the time.

The pursuit began in Compton about 11 p.m. after deputies tried to stop the SUV for reckless driving near North Acacia Avenue and West Elm Street and the vehicle sped away, the Sheriff’s Department said.

A person in the SUV opened fire on the deputies with an assault rifle, prompting multiple exchanges of gunfire and turning the chase into a rolling gun battle, authorities said.

Caught in the crossfire was Rickie Cornell Starks, 65, who died after he was shot multiple times near Spruce Street and Aranbe Avenue in Compton. Investigators think he was a bystander and not involved in the gun battle.

As deputies pursued the SUV into Inglewood, someone in the vehicle fired a weapon at a helicopter tracking the chase, the department said.

Bullets also struck a patrol car, grazing a deputy’s hand and shoulder.

Investigators have said that at least 40 rounds were exchanged over the 12-plus-mile route, with at least 16 of those rounds coming from the suspect’s assault rifle.

The pursuit came to an end when the SUV stopped outside an apartment complex at North Ash Avenue and West Queen Street, where at least four people jumped from the vehicle and ran away, according to authorities.

Deputies said they arrested one of the suspects, James Earl Harris, 28, of Lakewood. Harris was not charged and was released July 9 because of insufficient evidence.

Investigators also seized the Escalade, which was outfitted with bulletproof windows, but found no weapon inside, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Times staff writer Jeanette Marantos contributed to this report.