Man who shot and killed Grammy nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle is sentenced will spend six decades in prison

Eric Holder Jr gunned 33-year-old Hussle outside his own LA clothing store ‘in a hail of bullets’, wounding two bystanders

Holder Jr., 33, was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison on Wednesday after his conviction for the assassination

He was sentenced 25 years to life in state prison for murdering Hussle and an additional 25 years to life based on a sentencing enhancement because he used a gun

Holder must serve an additional 10 years in prison on assault convictions for shooting two other men who were with Hussle on the day of the killing

Evidence was overwhelming, from witnesses to cameras that caught Holder shooting Hussle and two other men outside the rapper’s store on March 31, 2019

Ermias Asghedom, aka ‘Nipsy Hussle’, was enjoying a major-label debut, had been nominated for a Grammy before he was shot 11 times by Holder

Rapper’s death served as a major blow to the South Los Angeles community he was helping lift up, his friends who condemned the shooting

A Crips gang member who shot and killed rapper Nipsey Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, in 2019 outside a Los Angeles clothing store was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison on Wednesday. 
A jury in July 2022, convicted 33-year-old Eric Holder Jr. of the first-degree murder of the Grammy-nominated artist as well as for the attempted murder of two other men after he let lose a ‘hail of bullets’ outside the Marathon store Hussle founded. The murder happened in March 2019.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II sentenced Eric Holder Jr. to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering Hussle and an additional 25 years to life based on a sentencing enhancement because he used a gun. Holder must serve an additional 10 years in prison on assault convictions for shooting two other men who were with Hussle on the day of the killing, Jacke said.
Holder, dressed in an orange prison suit, did not react when the sentence was read, only retaining a blank stare throughout the proceedings.  
Herman Douglas, a close friend of Hussle who was with him when he died, said his death rocked the South LA community he helped build up.  
‘Our community right now, we lost everything, everything we worked for,’ he told the court on Wednesday. ‘One man’s mistake, one man’s action, messed up a whole community.’

The fatal shooting, which took place on March 31, 2019, followed a conversation Holder and Hussle had about rumors that the gunman had been acting as an informant for authorities.
Hussle, a vocal member of the Rolling 60s gang, was shot 11 times. Two other men were shot and injured in the incident. 
The evidence against Holder was overwhelming, from eyewitnesses to surveillance cameras from local businesses that captured his arrival, the shooting and his departure.
His attorney did not even deny that he was the shooter but urged jurors to find him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Holder’s lawyer, Aaron Jansen, argued that being publicly accused of being a ‘snitch’ by a person as prominent as Hussle brought on a ‘heat of passion’ in Holder.
While Holder was found guilty of first-degree murder, he was not eligible for the death penalty.

Holder Jr. was initially charged with murder for shooting Lathan and Villanueva, but jurors found him guilty of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Lathan, who was standing across from Hussle, was shot in the back and was paralyzed from his injuries. Villanueva was grazed by a bullet and was not seriously injured.
The late rapper’s friend Herman Douglas who told Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II that he was grateful for any sentence against Holder in order to get justice for his dead friend, still demanded to know why Holder would shoot Hussle over rumors.  
‘I don’t care what you give this guy. It ain’t about the time,’ Douglas told the court. ‘I just want to know why. The world wants to know why. Why someone would do that?’
He added that the stores that surrounded Hussle’s Marathon in an LA strip mall have since closed down without the rapper’s support, leaving the owners unemployed.   

On Wednesday, Jansen argued Holder suffered from severe mental illness, reading a letter from the defendant’s father that claimed he had been diagnosed with auditory schizophrenia at the age of 19. Jansen said Holder often heard voices in his head that made him paranoid and erratic, describing a situation where he threw a heavy weight through a window just three weeks before the shooting in a manic episode because he “feared he would be murdered.”
Judge Jacke handed down the sentence saying he took into account Holder’s mental health at the time of the shooting, as well as the turmoil Hussle’s family faced.
‘I am very mindful of what was presented as to Mr. Holder’ mental health,’ the judge said on Wednesday. ‘I am also mindful of the devastation caused to the victims and their families. I believe this sentence balances the two.’

Hussle had just released his major-label debut album, which earned him his first Grammy nomination, when he was gunned down.
He was a widely beloved figure in Los Angeles, especially in the South LA area where he grew up and remained after gaining fame, buying property and opening businesses.
‘He wanted to change the neighborhood,’ Deputy District Attorney John McKinney said in his closing argument in the trial.
‘He kept the same friends. And the neighborhood loved him.
‘They called him Neighborhood Nip.’