Kobe Bryant: Selfie clicked by 13-year-old fan may be the last photo of the basketball legend ever
When 13-year-old Brady Smigiel captured a blurry selfie with his idol Kobe Bryant on Saturday, January 25, little did he know that it would probably be one of the last pictures of Bryant alive.
The very next day, Bryant and his daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash that took place in Calabasas, along with seven others. Brady had played in the Mamba cup for Team Edge in the weekend along with his twin brother Beau and had woken up on Saturday thinking "Let's go see Kobe before our games" his mother Dionne Reich Smigiel, shared with CNN.
Click to see the selfie here.
She shared, "They are both obsessed with basketball and big fans of Kobe. Brady was writing to our 'family text' group all day." Smigiel then added, "When we are in Newport Beach, Brady makes me drive by Kobe's gate just in hopes he might be driving out at the same time."
On Saturday, Bryant had been at the Mamba Academy in order to coach Gianna's team, the Lady Mambas. Post Gianna's first game where her team lost to Cyfair Nikecoop 2024 with a 46-29, Brady attempted to ask Bryant for a selfie. "He said Kobe was 'mad they lost' and wouldn't take a pic but gave him knuckles," Smigiel shared.
Brady got another chance to ask Bryant for a selfie post the Mambas second game where they won. The picture turned out to be quite blurry and Smigiel shared, "Kobe said, 'We'll get a better pic tomorrow'."
Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, 13 were amongst the nine killed in a fatal helicopter crash that took place on Sunday, January 26. He is survived by his 37-year-old wife Vanessa, and their daughters — 17-year-old Natalia, three-year-old Bianka and Capri, born in June 2019, his parents and sisters Sharia and Shaya.
The news of Bryant and Gianna's death hit the Smigiel family hard. "We are struggling. Kobe was such a presence in our little community of Newbury Park. My boys don't know how to process this. I woke up on Sunday and heard there was a helicopter crash in Calabasas and said to my family, 'Oh, my gosh, a helicopter just went down at the same time Kobe is supposed to arrive in Camarillo. Pray it's not him and Gigi.' Then an hour later we got the news. It's just all so sad," Smigiel shared.