One of the men wounded in the shooting that killed rapper Nipsey Hussle is expected to be released from jail.
Kerry Lathan was not completely healed from his gunshot wound when he was arrested and charged with violating his parole by associating with a known gang member (Nipsey).
Lathan, 56, was released from prison in Sept. 2018 after serving 24 years for murder.
He was out of prison for 7 months when his nephew took him to Nipsey’s store to purchase a shirt to go and console a friend.
He said he only knew Nipsey through a mutual friend. Nipsey just happened to be at his Marathon Clothing store that day.
As the three men spoke outside the store on March 31, former gang banger Eric Holder approached and opened fire. Lathan was shot in the back and the bullet lodged near his spine.
He is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down. Despite being in a wheelchair, Lathan was arrested Friday and the Department of Corrections filed paperwork to revoke his parole and send him back to prison.
But after public outcry and calls for leniency from local activists, the Dept. of Corrections announced Thursday it will drop the charges and release Lathan from custody.
In a phone interview with Vladtv.com earlier this week, Lathan said it was purely by coincidence that he was speaking to Nipsey when the shooting started.
He denied reports that Nipsey promised to give him free merchandise to help him adjust to the free world.
“[Nipsey] was a child. He was probably eight years old or seven when I got locked up. I took a selfie with him because that’s a celebrity. Everyone was taking pictures with him.”
Lathan said the mutual friend told him, “You don’t have to keep wearing that shirt, Unc. You in the new world now, you not in prison… Matter of fact there goes Nipsey in the lot right now he’ll give you a fresh new white shirt.”
However, the shirt Lathan wanted was out of stock. So he went out to the parking lot to ask Nipsey when the new shipment of shirts would come in.
“He said, ‘There go Nipsey in the lot. Go talk to him.’ And I talked to him and he said ‘that’ll be about a week, bro.’ I said, ‘OK.’ And when I said it it was all bad. The gunman [came] around the car and shot me, shot Nipsey, and then shot my nephew,” Lathan said.
He was arrested within days of being released from the hospital. At first he thought he was in jail for a minor parole violation.
“I just did 25-years-to-life,” Lathan told Vlad. “Y’all release me then want to throw me back in jail for coming into contact with a gang member?”
A Gofundme account created to help Lathan’s expenses has raised nearly $18,000.
