CALABASAS, Calif. — The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed in the rugged hills outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy weather considered dangerous enough that local police departments had grounded their choppers.
The aircraft plunged into a steep hillside at about 9:45 a.m. Sunday, scattering debris over an area the size of a football field and killing everyone aboard. The accident unleashed an outpouring of grief around the world over the sudden loss of the all-time basketball great who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Thousands of fans, many wearing Bryant jerseys and chanting his name, gathered outside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, home of the Lakers and site of Sunday’s Grammy Awards, where Bryant was honored.