Samiel Asghedom recounts Nips' final moments after he was shot multiple times outside his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles and paramedics arrived at the scene.
- Apr 5, 2019
AceShowbiz - Nipsey Hussle's brother Samiel Asghedom was one of the persons who witnessed the rapper dying after he was shot in front of his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, March 31. Speaking to LA Times, Samiel recalled his brother's final moments.
Samiel said he jumped into his car parked outside his grandmother's house upon learning about the shooting. He raced down the streets, ignoring the red lights to arrive at the scene as soon as possible. He remembered saying, "1, 2, 3, 4," noting how a crowd had formed around Nipsey.
When he saw the blood stain on his brother's shirt and a bullet wound on his leg, Samiel thought, "There's no reason for him to still be breathing." But Nipsey was still breathing at the time. Paramedics arrived shortly after and inserted a tube down Nipsey's throat, stuck an IV in his arm and then lifted him off the pavement onto a waiting stretcher.
It was when he spotted the fatal gunshot wound to the back of his brother's head that he started praying. He arrived at the hospital later than the ambulance. Samiel said that the doctor seemed to be avoiding him, before he met a paramedic who said, "I know who he is. I'm a fan. I respect what he was doing in the community." The paramedic added, "We tried our hardest."
Calling his brother's death an "execution," Samiel opened up about his rage. "If somebody would've been there - if I would've been there - I would've shot back," he said. "I just wish I would've been there." Samiel said that Nipsey didn't have any security with him that day and most of the workers at the store are struggling felons who can't carry guns, so the rapper was defenseless.
"Because of that, the man was able to shoot my brother, start running, realize nobody out there had a gun, stop, turn back around, walk up, shoot my brother two more times, start to run, realize nobody had a gun, nobody was responding, ran back up and shot my brother three more times, shoot him in the head and kicked him in the head and then ran off," he explained.
Still coming to terms with what happened to his brother, Samiel wondered if the attack was a hit job or if it was simply fueled by jealousy. "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 said. "It's mind-boggling."
Samiel paid tribute to Nipsey in an interview with ABC News. "He was a brother, a musician, an entrepreneur, a people's champ," he said. "He 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."
Samiel added, "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."
Nipsey is survived by his two children and his longtime girlfriend, actress Lauren London. The suspected shooter, Eric Holder, was arrested on Tuesday, April 2 and has been officially charged with one count of murder, two of attempted murder, and one of possession of a firearm by a felon.
