The man accused of gunning down rapper Nipsey Hussle made his first court appearance Thursday, April 4, after he was charged with Hussle’s murder and the attempted murders of two others in a South Los Angeles shooting.

Eric Ronald Holder Jr., 29, was arrested Tuesday outside a mental health facility in Bellflower, just two days after police said he opened fire on Hussle and two other men who were standing in the parking lot of a Slauson Avenue strip mall Hussle owned.

Standing in a glass enclosure behind his attorney, Holder appeared Thursday afternoon in a blue jail jumpsuit.

The District Attorney’s Office charged him with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

He pleaded not guilty.

His attorney, Chris Darden, entered the plea for him. Throughout the arraignment hearing Thursday, Holder spoke quietly to Darden from behind the glass enclosure as the judge asked him questions.

Holder, described by friends of Hussle as an aspiring rapper who was known by others in the Crenshaw district, could face life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Darden, who gained worldwide fame as one of the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, declined comment after the hearing.

Holder is scheduled to return to court on May 10. His bail was set at $5 million.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday that investigators believe Holder shot Hussle over “a personal dispute.” He and other investigators have repeatedly declined to elaborate on what that dispute was.

Both police and associates of Hussle said Holder was a familiar face to the rapper and others in the neighborhood.

Holder was an aspiring rapper, according to Crenshaw area residents who know him.

Holder went by “Fly Mac” on social media and Soundcloud, an online music-sharing service, where he published a handful of songs over the last four years.

On one track, called “Trippin,” he rapped about leaving his enemies bloody and their flesh torn, saying how his rivals would be “psycho” to cross him.

On the day of the shooting, police said Holder approached Hussle and the two men in the parking lot at 3420 W. Slauson Ave. After a brief conversation, Holder left, only to return later with a handgun.

He fired multiple times at Hussle and the other men before fleeing to a car waiting for him nearby.

A woman who police said was the driver of that car contacted law enforcement officials earlier this week.

She has not been arrested, said LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein, and is cooperating with investigators. It’s not clear if she’ll also be charged in Hussle’s killing.

The coroner’s office said Hussle died at a hospital from gunshots to his head and torso.

The shooting set off days of mourning at the strip mall, now home to a growing memorial. The location was also the site of his debut clothing store, The Marathon, as well as a barber shop and two restaurants he owned. He got his start in the music industry in the same parking lot, selling mix tapes out of his truck.

Hussle told Forbes magazine that he bought the development in February, intending to tear it down to make way for a multi-story residential building with his stores on the ground floor.

The rapper, who gained famed in South Los Angeles throughout the mid-2000s, until his breakout album in February was nominated for a Grammy, he was well regarded in the Crenshaw district where he grew up.

There, on top of fame as a musician, he was known as both a businessman and a philanthropist, investing in a STEM center and local schools as well as real estate.

Hussle was also said to be working on a documentary about Alfredo Bowman, better known as Dr. Sebi, an herbalist who claimed he had a cure for AIDS. Bowman died in 2016 in a Honduran jail.

Hussle left behind two children and a longtime girlfriend, actress Lauren London.

On Tuesday, London published a poem about Hussle on her Instagram account, her first statement since the shooting.

“I am completely lost,” she wrote. “I’ve lost my best friend.”