Court Transcripts: Nipsey Hussle Shot After Talk About Snitching

LOS ANGELES -- Shortly after a conversation about ``snitching,'' the man accused of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle in South Los Angeles used two guns to fire multiple shots, a prosecutor told a grand jury, according to transcripts released Thursday.

Deputy District Attorney John McKinney told the grand jury that Eric Ronald Holder Jr. walked up to a group including Hussle -- whose real name was Ermias Joseph Asghedom -- and the ensuing discussion ``had something to do with Mr. Asghedom accusing Mr. Holder of snitching, which in the gang world is a very serious offense.''

Two other men were also wounded during the incident.

``The conversation wasn't particularly intense, it wasn't particularly belligerent, and it lasted for about four minutes,'' the prosecutor told the grand jury, while noting later that the conversation was ``enough that it moved Eric Holder to a point of wanting to return to the parking lot and kill
Nipsey Hussle.''

After the conversation outside Hussle's South Los Angeles clothing store, Holder got into a car with a woman he had been dating and they drove away, the prosecutor told the grand jury. Holder then pulled out a gun, told the woman to drive around the block then put on a shirt and returned to the parking lot about six minutes later, according to the prosecutor.

``He walked back off toward the parking lot where he then walked up to within a couple feet of Mr. Asghedom and fired multiple rounds into him from two different guns,'' McKinney told the grand jury. He said one of the weapons was a semiautomatic handgun and the other was a revolver.

``Then he made his way out of the alley back to the car, which then took off,'' the deputy district attorney told grand jurors.

Holder is accused of fatally shooting the 33-year-old Hussle at about 3:20 p.m. March 31 in front of The Marathon Clothing store the singer owned in the 3400 block of West Slauson Avenue in Hyde Park.

Deputy Medical Examiner Lawrence Nguyen told the grand jury the rapper suffered 11 gunshot wounds, although two of the wounds could have been caused by the same bullet, according to the grand jury transcripts.

Holder was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies about 1 p.m. April 2 in the 9000 block of Artesia Boulevard in Bellflower after a witness called authorities to report seeing him.

The aspiring rapper -- who is being held in lieu of $6.53 million bail -- could face a maximum of life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney's Office.

City News Service contributed to this report.