Mourners gather at mural honoring Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in Los Angeles
Tears and prayers at mural honoring Kobe Bryant and daughter
SHOWS: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 27, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.
VARIOUS OF COUPLE EMBRACING IN FRONT OF KOBE BRYANT MURAL 2.
VIEW OF MURAL OF KOBE BRYANT AND HIS DAUGHTER READING: "KOBE & GIGI FOREVER DADDY'S GIRL" 3.
MOURNER KNEELING FRONT OF MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL SET UP IN FRONT OF MURAL 4.
BALLOONS IN COLORS OF LOS ANGELES LAKERS IN FRONT OF MURAL 5.
VARIOUS OF PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS 6.
VARIOUS OF MAN WEARING BRYANT SHIRT 7.
FLOWERS AND CANDLES IN FRONT OF MURAL 8.
VARIOUS OF WOMAN KNEELING AND PRAYING IN FRONT OF MURAL 9.
MAN IN LAKERS SWEATSHIRT WALKING UP TO MURAL AND TOUCHING IT 10.
MAN TALKING IN FRONT OF MURAL 11.
VARIOUS PEOPLE HAVING THEIR PHOTO TAKEN IN FRONT OF BRYANT MURAL STORY: There were sad scenes at a newly painted mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, in Los Angeles on Monday (January 27) as mourners gathered to pay their respects to the basketball star who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Fans laid flowers and lit candles at the base of the mural while some knelt in prayer as the remembered the legendary sportsman.
The pilot of Bryant's ill-fated helicopter was flying too low to be monitored in fog, audio records of conversations with air traffic controllers show.
The fog, and how the pilot and air traffic controllers reacted to it, came under scrutiny on Monday, as fans, friends and family of the NBA superstar confronted the reality that the charismatic 41-year-old and his 13-year-old daughter were among the nine people on board who died.
The Sikorsky S-76 chopper slammed into a steep hillside outside the town of Calabasas, California, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, igniting a brush fire and spreading debris over a quarter-acre (1,000 square meters) of grassy terrain.
Bryant, who won five NBA championships in his 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was known since his playing days to travel frequently by helicopter to avoid the Los Angeles area's glacial traffic.
(Production: Jack Ferry, Omar Younis)