Nick Gordon, the ex-boyfriend of the late Bobbi Kristina Brown, has reportedly died Wednesday at the age of 30. His brother, Jack Walker Jr., confirmed the news to People magazine.
"We are devastated by the loss of my beautiful brother,” Walker Jr. said. "He leaves a void in the hearts of my family and his friends. Nick’s battle in life was not an easy one. I will be forever grateful that my God afforded a small moment at the very end of Nick’s life, and I was able to hold his hand as he journeyed on."
Insiders told the Daily Mail that Gordon had experienced a series of heart attacks during a New Year's celebration in Florida. He was reportedly rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead shortly after.
"It's early days but the suggestion is he was taking drugs with friends and he passed out. They drove him to the hospital, took him inside and then left him there," a source told the Daily Mail. "Whatever you think of Nick and his lifestyle, it’s terribly sad that his supposed friends just dumped him and drove away."
Gordon's death occurred nearly five years after Brown was found unresponsive in a bathtub in a Georgia residence she shared with Gordon. Brown—the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown—remained in a coma until her death six months later. An autopsy report revealed Brown's death was caused by a combination of drug intoxication and drowning.
Shortly after Brown's death, it was announced that her estate had filed a wrongful death civil suit against Gordon, who was accused of beating Gordon and giving her a "toxic cocktail" that rendered her unconscious before he put her face down in the tub full of water. Her father, Bobby Brown, touched on the allegations against Gordon in 2016 interview on 20/20.
"It's not a mystery to me. The same thing that happened to my daughter is what happened to Whitney," Bobby Brown said, referring to wife's 2012 death. Houston was also found unresponsive in a bathtub filled with water. A coroner's reporter later determined Houston was "intoxicated from cocaine" when she died.
"[Gordon] knows what happened," Bobby Brown said. "I don't know what happened that night. But he does."
Gordon insisted he did everything he could to resuscitate Brown and was never criminally charged for the incident; however, a civil court judge ultimately determined Gordon was "legally responsible" for Brown's death, and he was ordered to pay $36 million in damages to his ex-girlfriend's family.
