Mike Dee, the close friend and brother of the late Pop Smoke, has released a statement declaring his innocence in the shooting death of the rapper.

In an Instagram post, he wrote, “CANT NOTHING EXPRESS THE PAIN IM FEELING ….I JUST LOST MY FUCKING BROTHER, MY HEART MY DAWGZ. YOU GUYS HAVE NO TYPE OF SENSE OR SYMPATHY ! YALL DONT KNO WHATS GOING ON YALL COME ON HERE PLAYING INVESTIGATOR AND BASHING ME ON THE INTERNET, I WOULD NEVER IN MY LIFE SET MY BROTHER UP, WE ATE TOGETHER , BROKE BREAD TOGETHER THIS REALLY MY MOTHER CHILD I DONT GOTTA EXPLAIN NOTHING TO NOBODY THAT DONT KNO ME BUT FOR THE ONES WHO KNOW ME KNOW WHEN YOU SAW ME YOU SAW POP.”

His post also included multiple photos of him with Pop, even including pictures from their early childhood.

Social media users believed that Mike had something to do with Pop’s death. The two were photographed together just hours before the shooting and fans claim that Mike deleted posts and changed some Instagram captions after news of Pop’s death surfaced.

One user tweeted, “Crazy that Pop smokes friend posted a pic with his address on and the next day he’s dead.”

Other fans believed that Mike didn’t have anything to do with the murder.

“Guys, Pop Smoke posted his own address on IG from a luggage tag yesterday. You cannot get the location of the house from the facade. Someone has sadly passed and you want to blame the friend who is mourning?” tweeted another user.

Pop Smoke was shot and killed in his Hollywood Hills home today (Feb. 19) during a home invasion.

Law enforcement reports that two men wearing hoodies and masks broke into his home around 4:30 a.m. and fired multiple rounds of shots, hitting and critically injuring Pop. The suspects reportedly fled the scene before authorities arrived.

The murder suspects have not yet been identified by local authorities. TMZ also reports that it is unknown whether or not Pop knew the home invaders. A man was subsequently handcuffed by police, but was later determined to not be involved in the shooting and was released from custody.

Check out Mike’s Instagram post below. We continue to send our prayers to Mike and the rest of Pop’s friends and family.