Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna [Source: people.com]
Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna also died in the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed their father.
Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, nicknamed Gigi, was also onboard the private helicopter when it went down on Sunday, reps for the former basketball player told TMZ Sports.
??❤️ pic.twitter.com/lrTgAxVS49
— Dee Holt ❄️➐ (@D_1andOnly_) January 26, 2020
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Emergency personnel responded but no one on board survived. Five people are confirmed dead, TMZ reported. The outlet said that Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant — with whom he shares all four children — was not onboard.
Mamba X Mini Mamba ??? #KobeGigiBryant Rest In Paradise pic.twitter.com/hrH6RRcT3h
— ? (@LakersMentality) January 26, 2020
Sources told ESPN that the helicopter was headed to a travel basketball game for Gianna, and that the other passengers were another player and their parent.
RIP Kobe Bryant 1978-2020.
Sports icon. pic.twitter.com/aOTWyPtyD3— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 26, 2020
Bryant is survived by Vanessa, 37, and their daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months.
It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Kobe Bryant and four others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. The aircraft went down in a remote field off Las Virgenes around 10:00 this morning. Nobody on the ground was hurt. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
— City of Calabasas (@CityofCalabasas) January 26, 2020
Spokespersons for LA county sheriff’s office and LAPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Earlier this month, the former NBA star — who retired in 2016 — revealed that he had recently started watching basketball all the time because of his 13-year-old daughter.
Sources: Kobe Bryant was on his way to a travel basketball game with his daughter Gianna when the helicopter crashed. Those aboard the helicopter also included another player and parent.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 26, 2020
“Before Gigi got into basketball I hardly watched it, but now that’s she’s into basketball, we watch every night,” Kobe told former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the Showtime Basketball podcast All the Smoke.
Kobe and his daughter also attended several Lakers games before the start of the new year, marking the first time he had been to a game since his jersey was retired in 2017.
Rip 🙁 pic.twitter.com/n17sWMchuY
— Noah Sayed (@Noah_Sayed529) January 26, 2020
“We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes,” the five-time NBA champion said of sharing the experience with his daughter.
RIP to all on board pic.twitter.com/MBzm6bHTVL
— qssv_ (@qssv_) January 26, 2020
“It wasn’t me sitting there, you know, as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it’s like about me, and I don’t like that,” he added. “It was her, she was having such a good time.”