Rapper Nipsey Hussle was executed in a hail of bullets that severed his spine, pierced his lung three times and pierced his liver, a Los Angeles court heard Wednesday.
“It was a devastating attack … a very personal attack,” Assistant District Attorney John McKinney told the jury of nine women and three men in his opening statement in the trial of aspiring rapper Eric Holder, 32 – the man accused of carrying two weapons having used it to shoot Hussle at least 10 times in March 2019.
Calling the rising music star’s murder a “premeditated and premeditated” murder, McKinney said Hussle was “shot from his feet to his head” after he accused fellow mobster Holder of being a “snitch”.
Just before the shooting, he added, Holder told Hussle. “You’re through,” and when the first shot hit him, the Grammy-winning hip-hopper yelled, “You got me.”
Rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed by “10, possibly 11 shots,” prosecutors said in court on Wednesday
Eric Holder, the suspect in the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle, is seen in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday. Holder is charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the attack outside Hussle’s The Marathon clothing store
Assistant District Attorney John McKinney told the jury of nine women and three men that the star’s killing was a “premeditated and premeditated” murder
Holder, who grew up in rugged South LA where he and Hussle were recruited by the Rollin’ 60s gang, aka Neighborhood Crips, is facing one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault with a gun and charged with two counts, one of possession of a firearm by a felon.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Before the criminal court in downtown LA on Wednesday, the heavily tattooed Holder wore a dark suit, an open white shirt and white sneakers as he sat next to his defense team.
Hussle rose to fame in 2005 with the success of several mixtapes that caught the attention of Jay-Z, Rihanna, Drake and countless artists paying tribute to the rapper. After his death, he was awarded two Grammys.
He was the father of two children, leaving daughter Emani, 13, and son Kross, 5 – from his relationships with Tanisha Foster and Lauren London, respectively.
Holder shot his friend after talking about him as “spying,” prosecutors said
His estate was valued at $4.1 million after his death.
McKinney told the court that 33-year-old Hussle – real name Ermias Asghedom – was talking to friends outside his Marathon clothing store on the afternoon of March 31, 2019 when Holder appeared in a car being driven by his girlfriend Bryannita Nicholson , 32
Holder – known locally by his nickname “Sh*tty Cuz” – shook hands with rapper Racks in the Middle and others in the group who were gathered there at a mall on Slausen Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard .
Then, McKinney said, the conversation turned to the topic of “espionage.”
“Nipsey told Mr. Holder there were rumors on the street that you were sniffing around.”
McKinney explained that in gang culture, cheating is a very serious offense. “It’s a very sensitive issue when a gang member is considered a snitch. It’s not like betraying your little brother or sister.”
After the telltale conversation, Holder drove off in her car with Nicholson, but asked her to drive around the block and park in an alley behind the mall.
Holder put on a red shirt, then walked back over to Hussle and his friends, who were still talking outside, said McKinney, and in view of multiple cameras mounted at the mall, he said to Hussle, “You’re through,” and began one to shoot .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun in one hand and revolver in the other.
Nipsey, who was hit by the first grenade, managed to yell “You got me” before falling to the ground, his spine severed. He was hit by 10, possibly 11, shots, the court heard.
Holder, gun in hand, walks in front of multiple cameras mounted around the mall
Holder fled the scene and ran back to his friend’s car, on the way he was caught on camera still holding both guns, McKinney said
Judge H. Clay Jacke interrupted Jansen’s opening statement and called attorneys from both sides for a conference before sending the jury to lunch
Holder fled the scene and ran back to Nicholson’s car and was caught on security camera along the way, still holding both guns, McKinney said.
He ordered Nicholson, “Drive before I hit you.” She took him back to Long Beach, where he was then living.
McKinney added that Holder was arrested just two days later. “He was still wearing the same clothes as at the time of the shooting.”
The charge of attempted murder and assault with a firearm stems from Holder, who also allegedly shot dead 56-year-old Kerry Latham and 44-year-old Sharmi Villnueva – both friends of Hussle – during the attack.
Latham, who had just been released from prison after serving 25 years for murder, was hit in the back and is now in a wheelchair, McKinney said. Villnueva was much luckier. The bullet hit his belt and ricocheted off.
In his opening statement, Holder’s defense attorney, Aaron Jansen, admitted that his client shot Hussle and told the jury, “Eric Holder shot and killed Nipsey Hussle.”
But he said this was a case of a crime committed “in the heat of passion.”
Judge H. Clay Jacke interrupted Jansen’s opening statement and called attorneys from both sides for a conference before sending the jury to lunch.