Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a homicide.

1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 27: The newspapers, however, never bothered with dinge 187s.
1988		Eazy-E ‘Hard Muthas’ 🎵 A 187 is in progress, nigga.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 48: This is a redhot One Eightyseven.
1998		Mack 10 ‘Ghetto Horror Show’ 🎵 Seen hundreds get wounded but like a thousand 187’s.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 150: One-eight-seven is a popular piece of hip-hop numerology; it’s the police code for homicide.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 136: A 187 is not too shabby, huh?
2011		Lecrae ‘Good Life’ 🎵 Never pulled a 187, but he preach it like a reverend.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 169: ‘You put that 187 on Romello’.

2. in fig. use any form of crisis or drama.

1999		Hip-Hop Connection Aug. 21: 187 The Californian penal code number for homicide that has, in typical hip-hop fashion, become worldwide shorthand for drama.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] The 411. A 187. I’m 730. Audi 5000.

3. (US prison) targeted for assassination.

1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 207: Everybody one-eight-seven. That’s the kind of world we live in.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 187: Marked for death, as in Cal. Penal Code section 187 (murder).