The man who was arrested after being shot next to Nipsey Hussle explained his side of the story which downplays their connection. 56-year-old Kerry Lathan, whom the LAPD later arrested for violating his parole due to “associating with a known gang member,” says that his connection with Nipsey was exaggerated and they met up by happenstance. The Youtube channel VladTV conducted an interview with Lathan, who believes that his arrest was unfair, since he wasn’t “associating” with Nipsey in the first place.
He explained that he actually went to Marathon on March 31 to buy a shirt, but, “When I go in there, they didn’t have the white [shirts] that I wanted. I said, ‘When y’all gon’ get that in again?’ He said, ‘Well, there go Nipsey in the lot. Go talk to him.’ And I talked to him. He said, ‘That’ll be about a week, bro.’ I said, ‘OK.’ And when I said it, it was all bad.”
Lathan says that when the alleged gunman, Eric Holder, whom the LAPD currently have in custody, he couldn’t see what else happened, as he was the first one hit. “The gunman turned around the car and shot me, then shot Nipsey, and then shot my nephew. I didn’t know what was going on… I fell on my stomach. All I could see was people’s feet. I couldn’t see nothing else. I said so they got it wrong if they talking about me being an eyewitness. What was I supposed to do? When I see a gun, I turn around and run. I don’t stop and take a selfie of the gunman… It all happened in less than three minutes.”
He’s sticking to his white t-shirt story, saying that he was on his way to meet a friend’s family to offer condolences after another death that had just taken place. “My buddy Ronnie, his father just died that Sunday. So, that’s all I was doing. And I was just gonna change my shirt so I could look presentable in front of they people. That’s it. And when I stopped over there with Nip, I got shot.”
“When I get [to Men’s Central Jail], they say, ‘You’re here for [a] parole violation,’” he insists. “I said, ‘For what?’ ‘Well, coming into contact with a known gang member.’ I said, ‘Man, I didn’t come into contact with nobody. I was visiting some people, going to pay respects to a person’s father who just passed away.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, community activists are working to secure Lathan’s release.
