LOS ANGELES _ The caller on the other end of Samiel Asghedom's phone was panicked but clear. His younger brother _ known to the world as rapper Nipsey Hussle, but to Samiel as just Nips _ had been shot.
It was Sunday afternoon _ hours before hundreds of mourners would descend on South Los Angeles to remember a man known as much for his boastful music as for his humble contributions to his community. And days before a man named Eric Holder would be charged with murder.
Samiel jumped into his car parked outside his grandmother's house. He ignored the red lights as he raced down Slauson Avenue _ the South Los Angeles street he and Nips were working to uplift. He arrived at the Marathon Clothing store precious minutes after a gunman fired multiple rounds into Nips, but before the paramedics pulled up. The time when life can precariously slip into death.
Blood stained the front of his brother's shirt and a hole marked where a bullet entered his leg.
There's no reason for him to still be breathing, Samiel thought.
But Nips was. Air rushed in and out of his nose _ strong and loud.
Growing up in turf claimed by the Rollin' 60s Crips gang, Samiel had seen death up close. Bullets, when they hit their target in the chest like the ones that hit Nips, were cruel and quick.
He's meant to be alive, Samiel thought.
