Man who rapped about gang violence killed in shooting

Sigmund Chornes always carried a spiral notebook with him. He’d pull it out to jot down his thoughts.

Taking inspiration from Nas, 2-Pac and The Notorious B.I.G., Chornes, 37, would then translate those thoughts to songs.

Sometimes, he’d spend an entire day pondering a verse, whether it was about racism, philosophy or love.

The perils of gang violence – which Chornes also wrote about – would end up taking his life.

After he watched the Super Bowl on Feb. 2 at a cousin’s house with a few people in Baldwin Hills, Chornes planned to spend the night, so he went to his car to grab a blanket.

Once outside, two men in a light-colored SUV drove up and asked Chornes where he was from. He said he wasn’t from anywhere and was shot to death.

His cousin heard the shots and called 911.

“He was confronted either by someone in the area or outside the area, thinking he’s a gang member,” said LAPD Det. Chris Barling.

According to police, Chornes was not a gang member.

He comes from a large family with more than 30 cousins where the experience of losing someone in such a manner is foreign.

“This is out of the blue for us,” said Chorne’s sister, Tricia Adolphues, 38, of Warner Robbins, Ga.

This week, friends and family gathered at a vigil at the shooting site to remember Chornes, whom they affectionately said looked years younger than 37, and more than once, was pulled over while driving for looking under 16.

Chornes, the middle sibling of two sisters, had recently been working as an in-home caregiver to a 97-year-old, a testament to his compassionate nature, relatives said.

Recently, Chornes was working on a full-length album.

“He really believed that he could go far with that,” Adolphues said. “It was his primary dream.”

His cousin, Nom Elkins, said that Chrones had read the dictionary cover-to-cover because he loved words.

“Oh yeah, Sig was deep,” he said. 

To close out the vigil, his friends and family held candles and prayed for Chornes.

"To you, Sigmund," his mother said.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Photo: Sigmund Chornes Credit: Chornes family photo