Holly MatkinLos Angeles, CA – One person was fatally shot, and three others were wounded, during slain rapper and gang member Nipsey Hussle’s funeral procession on Thursday.
Hussle, 33, was fatally shot in the head and torso on March 31 in a gang-related attack outside his clothing store in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles, TMZ reported.
Two other men were wounded during the altercation.
His accused killer, 29-year-old Eric “S–tty Cuz” Holder, was arrested on April 2, according to Heavy.
Holder has pleaded not guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon, murder, and two counts of attempted murder, KGTV reported.
Fans, friends, family members, and celebrities including Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, and Snoop Dogg filled the 21,000-seat Staples Center for Hussle’s funeral on Thursday afternoon, according to NBC News.
Thousands more convened along the funeral procession route following the memorial service, which stretched on for 25 miles to the funeral home in South Los Angeles, Vulture reported.
At approximately 6:25 p.m., shortly after the procession had passed, suspects in a gray Hyundai opened fire at the intersection of Main Street and 103rd Street.
“Victims are 3 Male Blacks and 1 Female Black – ages from 30-50 years old,” Los Angeles Police chief Michel Moore announced in a tweet. “Tragically one is deceased.”
Police did not release any other details regarding the victims.
Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, joined the Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips in his teens, USA Today reported.
Hussle’s Facebook page touted him as “a devout member” of the gang.
“He’s as poised a banger as there comes,” the page read.
“I grew up in gang culture,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2018. “We dealt with death, with murder. It was like living in a war zone, where people die on these blocks and everybody is a little bit immune to it. I guess they call it post-traumatic stress, when you have people that have been at war for such a long time. I think L.A. suffers from that because it’s not normal yet we embrace it like it is after a while.”
“I try to keep a balance with my career and who I am aside from that,” Hussle said on his Facebook page. “It’s kinda hard, but I try to stay the same n—a and balance both worlds. You don’t wanna forget where you come from and at the same time, you don’t wanna f–k off your blessing tryna live the same lifestyle you been living.”
Former President Barack Obama said he had never met Hussle, but that he was inspired by the work the Grammy-nominated rapper was doing to help his Crenshaw community.
“While most folks look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets and despair, Nipsey saw potential. He saw hope,” the former President wrote in a letter that was read aloud at Hussle’s funeral. “I hope his memory inspires more work in Crenshaw and communities like it.”
Stevie Wonder said that Hussle’s murder is evidence for stronger gun control, NBC News reported.
“It is so painful to know that we don’t have enough people taking a position that says, ‘Listen, we must have stronger gun laws.’ It’s unacceptable,” he said. “It’s almost like the world is becoming blind.”
The city of Los Angeles said it plans to rename the intersection where Hussle was killed as “Nipsey Hussle Square,” Deadline reported.
Chaos also erupted during a massive memorial vigil outside Hussle’s clothing store on April 1.
Police estimated that as many as 400 people had converged in the area by nightfall, USA Today reported.
Everything seemed peaceful until about 8 p.m., when a stampede of people began screaming and trying to run away from the area, trampling one another along the way, the Los Angeles Times reported.
People lost their shoes and fell on top of one another as they tried to escape the dense crowd.
Los Angeles Police Assistant Chief Robert Arcos said that the stampede was precipitated by a fight that broke out, and that at least one of the people involved in the altercation may have brandished a gun.
Liquor bottles and candle holders were shattered during the confrontation, which others in the crowd might have mistaken as gunfire, musician DeAndre Harvey told the Los Angeles Times.
First responders received inaccurate reports of shots fired at the scene of the memorial at approximately 8:15 p.m., USA Today reported.
“A HUGE stampede of people rushed out of the
At least 19 people were rushed to local hospitals due to injuries they received during the melee, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Authorities said at least six people were stabbed, according to reporters at the scene.
One critically injured victim was stabbed in the abdomen, while a second person was hurt in a car crash.
Two others were listed in serious condition, and 15 more were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
People also trampled and shattered hundreds of novena candles that had been placed outside the store, causing people to cut themselves on the shards of broken glass.
As the officers worked to make the area safe again, some members of the crowd became agitated that they were not allowed to return to the scene of the original vigil, and threw bottles at police, USA Today reported.