WHEN THE RAINS STOPPED, SHOOTINGS BLOOMED ALONG WITH THE WILDFLOWERS

Nipsey Hussle Was One Victim Among Many As South L.A. Violence Takes Its Toll

LAPPL News Watch
April 5, 2019

As storm after storm dumped rain on Los Angeles, the streets grew quiet. Like most everyone else, criminals retreated indoors.

This spring, with the end of the plentiful rains, violence bloomed along with the wildflowers. The famed rapper Nipsey Hussle was just one of many casualties as Angelenos emerged into the sunshine and scores were finally settled.

Compared with the calm at the beginning of the year, the recent rise in homicides and shootings was more of a return to an unfortunate norm than anything out of the ordinary — a steady drumbeat of death and injury primarily afflicting black and Latino men in the poorest parts of the city.

Hussle’s fatal shooting brought profound grief, along with a sense of hopelessness.