Hussle and two other men were standing outside a clothing store he co-owned in South Los Angeles on Sunday when the suspect, identified as Eric Holder, 29, of Los Angeles, approached and spoke with them, returning multiple times before opening fire, the police chief, Michel R. Moore, said at a news conference.
“Based on witness statements and the background of those that we’ve identified, we believe this to be a dispute between Mr. Hussle and Mr. Holder,” he said, declining to elaborate. “We believe they were known to each other.”
Moore later added that Holder was thought to be a member of a gang, but that police did not believe the shooting was related to gang rivalries. The police were still seeking Holder as of Tuesday.
Moore also said that a stampede at a vigil for Hussle on Monday night, in which more than a dozen people were injured, was the result of a panic stemming from a struggle over a handgun that was pulled out, but not fired, at the memorial.
“We had a series of falls, trips and injuries from the glass and other materials that were there, and that was the vast majority of the injuries that we saw,” he said.
Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Monday night that at least 19 people had been transported to hospitals, including two in critical condition and two in serious condition. One of the patients in critical condition was hit by a car.
Another person was stabbed, Moore said, and two women who arrived at a hospital with gunshot wounds said they were shot at the vigil after first reporting that they had been injured elsewhere. He added that while he was not questioning their account, a police commander at the vigil did not report hearing any gunfire.
Nipsey Hussle, born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, was remembered by city officials Tuesday as a gifted artist and passionate advocate for the South Los Angeles community in which he was raised.
“He was working closely with the city to help save lives and transform lives, even as he was doing that for himself,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said at the news conference.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.