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What the LAPD says happened at the Nipsey Hussle memorial

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Kiara Career, left, and Tadow McReynolds, from Minneapolis, take a selfie at the Nipsey Hussle memorial outside his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles.

  (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The growing memorial for Nipsey Hussle outside his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles.

  (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Herman Douglas, a.k.a. Cowboy, a business partner of Nipsey Hussle, stands behind police tape marking the crime scene as he pays his respect at a makeshift memorial for Hussle on April 2.

  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD officer Jonathan Moreno, left, receives a bouquet from Rochelle Trent, 64, to be placed at a makeshift memorial for Nipsey Hussle on April 2.

  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Nene Vauters, 28, stands behind police crime-scene tape to pay her respects at a makeshift memorial for Nipsey Hussle on April 2.

  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. police push back a crowd along Crenshaw Boulevard after a stamped erupted, injuring several people, during a vigil Monday for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Law enforcement officials begin to form lines down Slauson Avenue after a stampede at the memorial for rapper Nipsey Hussle.

  (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. push the crowd down Slauson Avenue after a reported stabbing incident at the memorial for rapper Nipsey Hussle.

  (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)
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Fans of rapper Nipsey Hussle pay tribue to the slain star in the parking lot of his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on Monday.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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An image of Nipsey Hussle rests in a sea of candles as fans of the rapper pay their respects near the Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on Monday.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans of rapper Nipsey Hussle pay their respects at a makeshift memorial in the parking lot of the Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on Monday.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Jesse Junco, 28, from San Bernardino lights candles Monday morning at one of a few growing memorials in front of the Marathon Clothing store.

  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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LaShanna Ayers, right, whose grandson is a godson to Nipsey Hussle, is comforted in the parking lot where rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed.

  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Marquesa Lawson, 34, right, mourns the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A crowd of people gathers at the scene where rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed Sunday.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Police investigate the scene where rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed in a shooting outside his store that left two others wounded.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Hugo Rojas, 17, holds a candle in memory of rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot multiple times Sunday in South L.A.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Utopia Kates, 27, in green jacket, comforts a friend over the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle outside his clothing store in South Los Angeles.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Takiya Taylor, 25, mourns the death of rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was killed in a shooting that wounded two other people outside Hussle’s clothing store in South Los Angeles.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )
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“I’m telling you, that was my friend. My friend’s dead. He was my childhood friend,” said Marquesha Lawson, 34, at the scene of rapper Nipsey Hussle’s killing in South L.A. on Sunday.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )
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Police cordoned off the scene where rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed in a shooting outside his Marathon Clothing store.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A crowd of people looks over the scene near Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard where rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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People mourn the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle in the Hyde Park neighborhood where Hussle was known as a community leader.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Rapper Nipsey Hussle performs in February 2018 at the Hollywood Palladium.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Nipsey Hussle performs during the Rolling Loud festival at Exposition Park on Dec. 14, 2018.

  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Nipsey Hussle performs at the Hollywood Palladium. He was nominated for a Grammy for his album “Victory Lap.”

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Nipsey Hussle, shown at the Hollywood Palladium, was known as much for his work in the community as for his music.

  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
By Cindy Chang
, Jaclyn Cosgrove and Dorany Pineda
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The Los Angeles Police Department provided more details about the chaos at Monday’s memorial for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle, saying a man with a gun appears to have sparked a stampede that left several people hurt.

Officials attempted to dispel rumors and incorrect information regarding the violence.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference Tuesday that no shots appear to have been fired at the vigil.

Two women who arrived at a hospital at around 11 p.m. that night said they had been shot, Moore said.

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They initially reported that they were at a different location, then said they were at the vigil.

An LAPD commander who was at the vigil did not hear any gunfire, Moore said.

But a man in the crowd was armed with a handgun and may have set off the stampede by brandishing it.

He did not shoot it, but someone attempted to disarm him, and people who caught sight of the weapon ran, Moore said.

A Los Angeles Fire Department official said at least 10 people were taken to hospitals, including two patients in critical condition, after an inaccurate report of shots being fired. 

In the panic, some tripped and fell, suffering cuts and sprains, Moore said.

One person may have been stabbed.

Moore praised the restraint of the police officers who tried to control the situation.

Bottles were thrown at some officers, and a sergeant had to have sutures on a wound to his hand, Moore said.

The LAPD is working with community leaders to clean the area, protect the memorial and make it safe for visitors, Moore said.

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While a member of the crowd shared some words on the late rapper, dozens of people who had gathered outside Hussle’s store started running away. People fell on top of each other as they tried to flee amid the dense crowd, many of whom lost their shoes along the way.

Numerous police cars and ambulances raced to the scene as officers yelled at people to leave the area.

The Los Angeles Fire Department took 19 people to hospitals.

A Los Angeles Times reporter at the scene was also trampled when the crowd ran.

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Cindy Chang

Cindy Chang is a deputy Metro editor. She came to the Los Angeles Times in 2012, first covering immigration and ethnic communities before moving to the L.A. County sheriff’s beat and then the LAPD. Previously, she was at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where she was the lead writer for a series on Louisiana prisons that won several national awards. A graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law, she began her journalism career at the Pasadena Star-News.

Jaclyn Cosgrove

Jaclyn Cosgrove is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times who writes about L.A. County government, with a focus on the county’s mental health treatment system. Previously, Cosgrove worked at the Oklahoman, where they wrote extensively about the state’s mental health and substance use treatment system. They are a graduate of Oklahoma State University and have a master of legal studies degree from UCLA School of Law.

Dorany Pineda

Dorany Pineda is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She joined the newsroom in 2018 and was a general assignment reporter on Metro and Calendar, wrote obituaries and covered books, the publishing industry and the local literary scene. She helped cover Los Angeles City Hall and also drought, water and climate change in California. Pineda was previously on the police beat for City News Service and was a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Wave newspaper. She earned her bachelor’s in literature from UC Santa Cruz in 2012 and a journalism certificate from East Los Angeles College in 2017.

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