Kobe and gigi bones9/25/2023 ![]() Aerial footage of the wreckage showed what looked like a hiking trail just steps away. I found the latitude and longitude coordinates of the accident site on Wikipedia and plugged them into Google Maps. By the time I made my journey up the hill behind the water company off Las Virgenes Road, every piece of the downed white helicopter with robin-egg blue and navy piping from the top of the nose to the tip of the tail was long gone. ![]() Any time there is an aviation accident, the NTSB retrieves every fragment of debris in an attempt to piece together what went wrong. Police and National Transportation Safety Board investigators cordoned off the area in the days and weeks after the crash to deter scavengers and lookie-loos. By making the 45-minute hike up the hillside, I hoped to gain some clarity about what happened on the morning of Jan. I set out to find what had become of the site where the helicopter crashed. A few weeks ago, I returned to Calabasas to find answers. In the weeks and months after the Bryants’ deaths, it was difficult to travel three blocks without encountering a mural of Kobe or Gianna or both. Grief in western society is so often shoved into attics and dresser drawers. The entire city felt like a living memorial. When the red light flickered off, she burst into tears. A national sports reporter stood near the front door, faced her network’s camera and offered her thoughts on the death of a player she had covered for more than a decade. Then around 2 p.m., authorities announced the briefing had been moved to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff Station just up the road. Word began to spread among the media that the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department would hold a press conference at the middle school. A group of first responders were visible from the aerial footage taken by the helicopters, but none of them seemed to move with any haste. A news report confirmed that Kobe and Gigi Bryant were among those killed in the crash. Most just wandered from being so stunned. Police blocked off a hiking trail that led up the hill.ĭozens of Lakers fans in purple and gold jerseys and Kobe T-shirts gathered in the parking lot of AE Wright Middle School across from the water plant. Flames shot up a dusty hill that looked to be a mile or so above a water utility building. ![]() We are one city that believes in each other, believes in something bigger than ourselves and we will absolutely do everything to make sure that this is done so that everybody can come to it as well,” the mayor said.Within minutes of TMZ’s report, news media and fans descended on Calabasas to get as close as they could to the fiery wreck. “It’s a reminder how much unity we have, though. “I think one message that I would say is this is not just about a man who was a basketball player, this is about a father, this is about a leader, this is about a filmmaker, this is about an artist, this is about somebody who was so much more than just how he was on the court,” he told reporters. But Mayor Eric Garcetti said last week it would be a tribute to more than Bryant’s basketball career. What should we expect at the Bryant memorial?įew details have been made public. Last Friday, before a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center, the Lakers put on an emotional tribute led by LeBron James to Bryant. His memorial was followed by a 25.5-mile procession through streets lined with people on foot, on motorcycles and doing wheelies on ATVs. Last year, slain rapper Nipsey Hussle was also remembered at Staples. The lucky ones wore gold and silver wristbands, which designated them as the holders of approximately 17,500 tickets to the memorial service, given out through an online lottery. Fans started gathering outside Staples Center as early as 1 a.m. The service was televised live around the globe. “There’s no precedent for this,” one city official said at the time.īut the tribute was pulled off without major problems. It was a big undertaking, and there were concerns about crowd control and traffic as throngs of fans were expected to converge on the downtown L.A. In 2009, after Michael Jackson died, his memorial was held there. The complex has become a go-to place for large public memorials. Why will the memorial be held at Staples Center?
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