Rapper The Game raises money for family of boy shot dead in Mid-City

Rapper The Game said he’s raised $17,000 for the family of a 7-year-old boy who died in a Mid-City drive-by shooting and is calling for a cease-fire to gang violence over the holidays.

Taalib Pecannte, a second-grader, died Tuesday after being shot in the back the night before. The Compton youth football player was in a car with his mother and her 31-year-old boyfriend in the 1900 block of South Corning Street when a white vehicle drove up alongside and as many as four men unleashed a barrage of gunfire about 9 p.m.

Taalib’s mother was grazed in the leg by a bullet and her boyfriend was hit in the back. Both were listed in stable condition, police said.

As Taalib’s friends and family held a candlelight vigil in his memory Wednesday night in Compton, The Game took his Instagram account and announced he was starting a campaign to end local gang violence over the holidays.

“My son is 6 and I have a son, 10. I couldn’t imagine living life without them, period,” the Compton-native told TMZ on Wednesday. “But I mean, three weeks before Christmas man? Something wrong with that man. It’s not cool at all.”

This isn’t the first time The Game has reached out to help local victims of gang violence. In September, he and other rappers donated money to the family of 6-year-old Tiana Ricks, who was killed in Moreno Valley.

Much of the $17,000 raised for Taalib’s family came from local gang leaders, The Game told TMZ. He said calling a cease-fire through the holidays was just the beginning.

“What you want to do is make sure no other kids get shot then in January, we talk about January,” he said. “But if you just say ‘stop the violence’ that goes in one ear and out the other.”

Police have made no arrests in Taalib’s shooting and no motive has been determined, though police said it appeared to be gang-related.

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