Kobe Bryant death: Shaquille O'Neal's son Shareef says NBA star texted him just hours before fatal crash
Kobe Bryant's sudden death has left everyone in shock. Unable to process the news of his chopper crash, up and coming basketball star Shareef O'Neal sent out consecutive tweets, one of which was a screengrab of the chat they had on Instagram just hours before he died.
Kobe had reached out to Shareef with a — "You good fam?" — but he responded a couple of hours later. Unfortunately, by then the NBA star's chopper had flown into the Calabasas Mountains. "Literally this morning you reached out to me... I love you forever unc. I love you," he shared. Kobe and Shareef's father, Shaquille, have been thick friends and share a bond beyond the court. They are like a family.
A heartbroken Shaquille shared a note on Twitter saying he had lost his brother (Kobe) and niece (Gigi) in the tragedy. "There's no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW (sic)," the former star player posted.
Kobe and daughter Gianna were among the nine people who were killed.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby held a joint press conference addressing the crash. The officials confirmed that the pilot and eight passengers on board were all killed in the accident. It took eight minutes for the first responders to reach the spot.
"Our firefighters hiked into the accident site with medical equipment and hose lines to extinguish the stubborn fire, as it included the brushfire debris from the helicopter. The fire also included magnesium which is very hard for our firefighters to extinguish because magnesium reacts with oxygen and water," People quoted Osby as saying.