A member of the Crips gang Eric Holder Jr. was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison on Wednesday for killing beloved rapper Nipsey Hussle outside his Crenshaw clothing store in 2019.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke sentenced Eric Holder Jr. to 25 years in state prison for Hussle’s murder and an additional 25 years based on a sentence enhancement because he used the gun. Jack said Holder will serve an additional 10 years for shooting two other men who were with Hussle on the day of the murder.
Holder, 33, was on a date with a woman who would become his unwitting driver on March 31, 2019, when he approached Hussle in front of a Marathon clothing store near Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.
There was a brief exchange between the two, but Holder returned two minutes later with two handguns and opened fire in the middle of the parking lot, killing Hassel, whose legal name was Ermias Asghedom, and wounding two others nearby.
The man convicted of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle has been sentenced to at least 60 years in prison
Hussle’s death sparked more than a week of mourning throughout the city. While Hussle was celebrated nationally for his Grammy-nominated record “Victory Lap,” locally he was seen as a philanthropist and prominent community figure who reinvested in the Crenshaw neighborhood he founded. Hussle owned and operated several businesses in the area, including the clothing store where he was killed.
Known by some as the “Neighborhood Neap,” Hussle had poured nearly $2.5 million at the location where he was killed and, despite his status as a hip-hop superstar, often traveled the area without security. On the day he was killed, he was signing autographs.
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Holder was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for shooting Hussle and an additional 25 years for the weapons enhancement charge. He was also convicted of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter for injuring two other persons in the incident, for which he was sentenced to an additional 10 years.
Holder’s father has submitted a letter to the court apologizing on behalf of his son.
“I know there are not enough words or apologies that will fill the void, the loss, the pain, the deep sorrow the family of Ermias Asghedom (Nipsey Hussle) is experiencing. You cannot imagine the agony, the grief, the utter disbelief and devastation I feel knowing my son, Eric Jr., took another person’s life,” said the letter, which was read aloud for the record.
On Wednesday, Jansen argued that Holder suffered from serious mental illness, reading a letter from the defendant’s father that claimed Holder had been diagnosed with auditory schizophrenia at age 19. A situation just three weeks before the shooting in which he threw a heavy weight through a window in a manic episode because he “was afraid he was going to be murdered.”
Hussle, born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, was fatally shot on March 31, 2019, in South Los Angeles. He was 33 years old.
A father of two and a successful entrepreneur, Hussle was the founder of the record label All Money In.
Hussle has collaborated with dozens of artists throughout his career, including Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, Ty Dolla Sign, YG, and Young Thug.
