Following a brief argument in 2019, the man who shot and killed Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle was convicted guilty of the young musician’s murder.
After six hours of deliberations, a jury in California found 32-year-old Eric Holder guilty on Wednesday, July 6.
Born Ermias Asghedom, Nipsey Hussle was shot in front of his Los Angeles clothes store. According to reports, the 33-year-old knew the murderer for a long time.
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After his passing, tributes came from all corners of the music business.
Two counts of attempted manslaughter were also found against Holder because two other males were shot during the incident. When he is sentenced in September, he might receive a life sentence.
He had already acknowledged killing Nipsey Hussle and belonged to the same street gang.
Witnesses say he left the scene after a ten-minute argument, in which Nipsey Hussle warned him of rumours that he was cooperating with police, and returned with two handguns.
His defence team argued that he attacked him in the “heat of passion” but the jury agreed that the attack was premeditated.
At the 2019 BET Awards, Hussle was posthumously given the Best Male Hip Hop Artist and Humanitarian Awards.
Over 20,000 people attended a celebration of his life, with former US President Barack Obama praising him for leaving “a legacy worthy of celebration”.
Former gang member Hussle, and a community organiser in Los Angeles, used his music earnings to pay for neighbourhood improvements.
Members of the city council hailed him as a “West Coast hero” after his passing and unanimously decided to rename an intersection in his South Los Angeles neighbourhood “Nipsey Hussle Square.”
When Holder was being tried, Bryannita Nicholson, a woman with whom he had a casual relationship and who unknowingly drove him to and from the crime scene, testified in court that she witnessed Holder load a gun before the shooting.
She claimed that while they were picking up their food order, they saw the rapper on the sidewalk in front of his Marathon clothes store.
Holder rushed over and she said she heard him loudly tell the rapper: “Did you say I snitched?”.
Ms Nicholson added that she posed for a photo with Hussle while Holder went to collect the food. The witness, who came forward to the police leading to Holder’s arrest, said that she saw Holder eat some food before he left her car to kill Hussle.
