Jurors in the Nipsey Hussle murder trial heard testimony from a woman who claims she unwittingly drove the man accused of killing the rapper to and from the shooting scene.
According to the Associated Press, 35-year-old Bryannita Nicholson was in a casual relationship with 32-year-old Eric Holder when she drove him to a shopping center in South Los Angeles on March 31, 2019. At some point, while the two were in the vehicle, she spotted Hussle and said to Holder, “Ooh, there goes Nipsey, he fine. I want to take a picture with him.”
Holder reportedly told Nicholson to stop at the Master Burger restaurant located within the shopping strip so that he could get some food. She stated that after Holder exited the vehicle, she drove around the shopping center looking for a parking spot.
“I just thought he was trying to beat me to go see him before I saw him,” she testified.
Nicholson says she had no idea that Hussle owned the shopping center or that Holder and Hussle grew up in the same neighborhood. When she caught up with Holder, he was talking to Hussle, and she overheard him say, “Did you tell somebody I snitched?”
Nicholson claims she patiently waited her turn so that she could take a picture with the Grammy-nominated artist.
“I was just excited. I was just happy. I just wanted to show my Facebook friends,” she said.
Holder then got some food from Master Burger and instructed her to drive a block away from the shopping center. Nicholson testified that she saw Holder loading a handgun and asked him, “What are you doing? You put that away. You ain’t going to shoot nothing outside my car.”
Holder put the gun away and then told Nicholson to drive into an alley so that he could eat his food. He then told Nicholson that he would return shortly before exiting the car.
Nicholson said that Holder did not seem angry and that she believed he was going to get a shirt from a store in the shopping center. However, she heard gunshots shortly after.
Eyewitnesses say they saw Holder shoot Hussle 10 times and kick him in the head before fleeing the scene, the Associated Press reported.
Holder reappeared and Nicholson asked him, “What Happened,” to which he responded, “You talk too much, I ought to slap you,” and then instructed her to “Drive.”
Nicholson later said that she learned through local news that Hussle was killed.
After a two-day manhunt, Holder was eventually arrested and charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, the Associated Press reported.
Nicholson, a key witness in the trial, has received immunity in exchange for her testimony. She is scheduled to testify again next week.