DEVELOPING: NBA Legend Kobe Bryant, 41, dead in California helicopter crash. “Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, was not among those aboard the chopper, according to reports. Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was also among those killed, according to TMZ.”

UPDATE: ‘I really don’t know what to say:’ NBA players, professional athletes weigh in on the passing of Kobe Bryant.

Related: Felicia Sonmez, “Washington Post national political reporter,” is going for the mother of all Twitter ratios:

Update (6:04 PM EST): Death toll now nine people in crash of Sikorsky S-76 carrying Kobe Bryant, and daughter.

Update (6:29 PM): MSNBC’s Alison Morris issues grovelling apology after gaffe that sounded very much like the N-word announcing Bryant’s death:

If a Fox News host had made a similar gaffe, it would garner wall-to-wall coverage on MSNBC, the network that spent the election year of 2012 hearing racist dog whistles being uttered by Republicans via words such as “golf” and “Chicago.”

Update (6:50 PM): Sonmez deletes above tweet, but not before her ratio topped over 23 thousand replies to 605 retweets.

Update (7:32 PM): “Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his daughter Alyssa Altobelli and wife Keri Altobelli were on the helicopter with Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna when it crashed in Calabasas, California, a relative tells CNN.”

Update (8:19 PM): Media mangle and mishandle details of Kobe Bryant’s death.

(Updated and bumped.)