Thousands of people gathered outside a hockey arena in South Florida on Wednesday, waiting to get a glimpse of the rapper XXXTentacion. Avid fans wore show-merch T-shirts and stood in long lines to enter the arena, the BB&T Center in Sunrise, just a few miles from where the artist was born. But they weren’t there for one of his concerts. They were there for his memorial.

XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, saw sudden success after his debut song, “Look at Me!,” surfaced on SoundCloud and steadily climbed the Billboard charts through late 2017. His tumultuous life, which swung from cult celebrity to domestic violence charges, ended on June 18, when he was shot outside a luxury motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Mr. Onfroy’s family decided to hold a memorial for his fans. His mother, Cleopatra Bernard, who knew her son’s life had been open to so much public scrutiny, banned cameras and cellphones from the event on Wednesday. This week, Mr. Onfroy’s single “Sad!” shot to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the few musicians to top the charts posthumously; the last artist to do so was the Notorious B.I.G., in 1997.

[Our reporters visited the memorial on Wednesday at the BB&T Center. Read more here.]

When the BB&T Center opened its doors, fans filed in as the song “Hope” filled the arena. Mr. Onfroy was placed onstage in an open dark brown coffin, surrounded by black roses and metallic leaf displays. Clips from his performances and scenes from his life played on arena screens.

Many fans shared their reactions to the event on social media. Here are some of them: