Who Killed Nipsey Hussle? Suspect Not Found, Man Confesses To Shooting Rapper

Hours after Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was fatally shot outside a clothing store that he was associated with in Hyde Park, Los Angeles, on Sunday, a man appeared on another artist’s Instagram Live and claimed to have carried out the shooting.

An artist named Cinco was on Instagram Live when a man under the username @gasstongbo crashed his session with a Live stream of his own. The latter appeared to be driving in his car when he admitted to walking up to Hussle and shooting him in the presence of his "daughter".

“SOOOO THIS N---- SAID HE SHOT @nipseyhussle @gasstongbo WHILE I WAS ON LIVE... I don’t know This N---- N REAL LIFE... I JUST KNOW HE GOT ALOT OF BEEFS W OTHER PPL BASICALLY ALL OF LONGBEACH AND LA…” Cinco captioned the video which recorded his interaction with @gasstongbo.

It was not immediately clear if the man who claimed to have shot the rapper was the same man whom the police have identified as the shooting suspect.

“The suspect in the shooting is described as a male black & LAPD South Bureau Homicide is conducting an investigation to locate him and anyone else involved. You can expect the area of Slauson & Crenshaw to be impacted by streets closures & heavy traffic for several hours,” the Los Angeles Police Department tweeted.

According to sources cited by TMZ, the suspect approached Hussle on foot at around 3:20 p.m. local time (6:20 p.m. EDT) before fatally shooting him and wounding two others. Although the rapper was said to be in presence of a child when he was shot, it was not clear whether it was his daughter. The suspect then fled in a vehicle which was being driven by a woman. Law enforcement officials have attributed the shooting to gang-related violence.

Hussle has worked with big names in the rap industry, such as Drake, Childish Gambino, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Young Thug, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Kirko Bangz, Dom Kennedy, Tyga, Jadakiss and Chamillionaire. He lost to Cardi B after his debut album, "Victory Lap", got nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammys in February. Before that, he had been making mix tapes since 2005.

The rapper was also actively involved in curbing gang violence in his local community. To that end, he spearheaded an art initiative called "Destination Crenshaw," which included an open-air museum featuring the works of local artists. He also co-launched Vector 90, which was a STEM learning center dedicated to developing science and technology education in the area.

"I grew up in gang culture. We dealt with death, with murder. It was like living in a war zone, where people die on these blocks and everybody is a little bit immune to it. I guess they call it post-traumatic stress, when you have people that have been at war for such a long time. I think L.A. suffers from that because it’s not normal yet we embrace it like it is after a while,” Hussle told Los Angeles Times in March 2018.

After the rapper’s death, Los Angeles Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff said he had a meeting scheduled Monday with the chief of police and Hussle to discuss gang violence and help kids.

The last tweet sent out by Hussle before his death read: “Having strong enemies is a blessing.” He was dating actress Lauren London and both of them had a daughter together.

Among the celebrities who paid tribute to Hussle were NBA players Draymond Green and Kevin Durant.

The Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti also offered his condolences: