Nipsey Hussle's Brother Reveals His Desperate Attempts to Save the Rapper After He Was Fatally Shot
Days after Nipsey Hussle was fatally shot outside of his Los Angeles clothing store, his brother is opening up about their final moments together, attempting to save the rapper’s life.
On Thursday, Samiel Asghedom spoke to the Los Angeles Times and recalled pulling up to Marathon Clothing Company earlier this week to discover his younger brother, with a bullet-hole in his leg, lying on the ground in his blood-stained shirt.
For Asghedom, who referred to the attack as an “execution,” he’s still having trouble processing the tragedy in a community that the rapper and activist worked so hard to build up.
“It doesn’t make sense that somebody from the area, that just snuck up, and just talked to him and shook his hand minutes before,” he told the LA Times. “It’s mind-boggling.”
A post shared by Dawit Asghedom (@dasghedom) on Jul 20, 2018 at 6:46am PDT
After arriving at the scene on Sunday and calling 911, Asghedom said he was instructed to perform CPR on Hussle by the operator, who guided him through the process step-by-step.
“1, 2, 3, 4,” he recalled counting with the operator until they reached 20, at which point paramedics arrived. Meanwhile, a crowd had begun to form around the slain rapper.
Asghedom told to the publication that paramedics put a breathing tube down his brother’s throat, inserted an IV into his arm, and then loaded him into the ambulance on a stretcher. It was at that point that Asghedom noticed Hussle had a gunshot wound in the back of his head, prompting him to start praying.
When he arrived at the hospital, Asghedom said he spoke with a paramedic who told him he was a fan of Hussle and “respected what he was doing in the community.”
The medic then delivered the bad news and explained that they “tried our hardest.”
With his brother now gone, Asghedom said he plans on keeping Hussle’s legacy as an activist in the Los Angeles community alive.
“He made something work in an area that was run-down, that people were scared to come to, and he turned it into a landmark,” Asghedom told the publication. “All races. Different states. Many countries. They all come to Crenshaw and Slauson. He was truly the people’s champ.”
Asghedom also praised his brother to ABC News, telling the outlet that Hussle was “somebody that believed in the process of hard work, determination and just the positivity of somebody staying in the area that he grew up in and making something out of nothing.”
“He was a role model to the community, to the kids, and to the mothers and the grandmothers and the community that watched him grow up and seen him as a youngster, a family man, a father, raising his kids,” he added.
Hussle, 33, died from gunshot wounds of both the head and torso, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed on Monday. “Paramedics were called and [Hussle who was born Ermias Joseph Asghedom] was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m.,” the coroner said, in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
On Monday night, the day after Hussle was fatally shot, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement asking the public to aid in their search for the suspect, Eric Holder.
“On March 31, 2019 around 3:20 p.m. three male adults were standing in front of a business in a strip mall in the 3400 block of West Slauson Blvd. The suspect walked up to the men and fired numerous shots at them. The victims were struck and fell to the ground,” read the statement.
“The suspect ran southbound through an adjacent valley to a waiting vehicle. The suspect entered the passenger side of the vehicle and fled the area. The vehicle is a 2016 Chevy Cruze, white four doors, CA license plate 7RJD742. The vehicle was driven by an unidentified female.”
Holder, 29, has since been taken into custody and charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a release from the Los Angeles County’s District Attorney’s Office.
On Thursday, he entered a plea of not guilty in court. The aspiring rapper could face a maximum sentence of life in state prison if convicted.
Holder has hired attorney Chris Darden, who famously was part of the prosecution team in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, according to CBSLA.
