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This photo depicts South Los Angeles resident Sandra Polanco breaking down at the sight of a homicide shrine near her home this weekend. "Again, again," she said. "These accursed streets." She did not know the victim. But Polanco lost her son, Giovanni Mancia, 16, to a homicide almost a year ago. As she spoke, she gripped a cellphone containing Giovanni's picture. The hand with which she held the phone was shaking. Seeing her reaction, her remaining son, Jesus, 6, put his arms around her.
 (This the coroner's official weekly list, combined with information from law enforcement. Homicides reported in previous days are updated here, and archived.)
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Ella Suggs, 53, a black woman, was stabbed at a bus stop at 200 East Compton Blvd. and died at 3:07 p.m. Sunday, April 29. Police said a man walked up to her and stabbed her without provocation as she waited for the bus. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. A 31-year-old black man was arrested later the same day at the scene. His motive is still under investigation, police said.
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 Anthony Adame, 20, a Latino man, was shot in the stomach at the intersection of 109th Street and Santa Fe Avenue in Lynwood following a party, and died at 7:06 a.m. Sunday, April 29. Sheriff's Homicide Lt. Larry Lincoln said Adame's three friends tried to drive him to the hospital to save his life, but instead got into a serious traffic collision in Inglewood. All the friends were somewhat hurt, including one young man who broke both legs. Adame later died at a hospital.
Alfonso Barrientos Jr., a 44-year-old Latino man, was shot multiple times at 2020 Pasadena Avenue in Montecito Heights and died at 5:07 a.m. on Sunday, April 29.
He was walking back to his car from a bar called "The California Club"--a place familiar to Hollenbeck police who have responded to homicides there in the past--when he was attacked, said Det. Scott Smith.
Although the shots must have been clearly audible, and Barrientos' body was lying in plain view on the sidewalk, no one called police until well into the following morning. A woman walking down the street with her son at first thought the person was drunk and unconscious, but realizing the situation, made a report.
Barrientos had a history of narcotics dealing, police said.
Michael Padilla, a 45-year-old Latino man, was stabbed several times at 20207 Diehl St. in Walnut and died at a hospital about 5:34 a.m. Sunday, April 29. Sheriff's investigators said the stabbing was related to a quarrel between Padilla and five men in the street.
Update: Sheriff's detectives have cleared this case. A latino suspect was arrested.
Aubrey Gibson, 23, a black man, was killed in LAPD's 77th Division on Sunday, April 29. His time of death was listed as 3:29 a.m. His sister found him dead at about 3:50 a.m. inside an apartment in the 6400 block of Brynhurst Street.
Jorge Rostran, 23, a Latino man, was shot in the 100 block of Lime Avenue in Monrovia and died at 3:25 a.m. Sunday, April 29. The suspects in the case are Latino.
Ralph Hope Jr., a 28-year-old black man, was struck by gunfire in the 200 block of West Hyde Park Boulevard in Inglewood and died at 8:20 p.m. Saturday, April 28. Officers responding to a call of shots fired found him lying face-down on the sidewalk. He had been shot in the head, and died at a hospital. The suspect fled on foot. Anyone with information is asked to call Inglewood detectives at (310) 412-5246.
Update: Inglewood detectives have cleared this case. A black suspect was arrested.
 Robert Hunter, 34, a black man, was shot in back of the Southern Missionary Baptist Church at 4678 Adams Blvd at about 10:20 a.m. Saturday, April 28. He died at a hospital later that night.
Hunter had been attending a funeral for Compton homicide victim Isaac Tobias (see previous coroner's list below). Hunter was Tobias' cousin. He was struck in the head by gunfire. Two other people, a black man and a woman, 33, sustained bullet-graze wounds to their legs and ankles, were treated at a hospital and released.
Continue reading "Robert Hunter, 34" »
 Wilbert Jackson, 16, a black youth, was shot in the chest on Figueroa Street just south of W. 51st Street in South-Central Los Angeles and died at 10:26 p.m. Friday, April 27. He was standing in front of a fish outlet when three black men or youths in a car drove by and sprayed bullets. People in the area heard about 15 shots and described seeing Jackson with a bullet wound through his heart. Another black youth or young man was shot multiple times and was hospitalized.
Sonia Risken, a 60-year-old woman of Filipino descent, was shot dead at 1819 W. 252nd St. She had been dead several hours when an unidentified man discovered her body at her house. Her time of death was listed as 2:45 p.m. Friday, April 27.
Risken had been a target of an inquiry into the murders of her two husbands a decade apart in the Philippines.
She also had been fired upon nine days prior in the Lomita hair salon that she owned, but she was not hit, said Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Hugo Macias. That attack took place April 19 at Sonia's Artistic Hair Center.
Continue reading "Sonia Risken, 60" »
Marat Manukyan, an 18-year-old young man from Armenia, was shot in the back at 1310 Raymer Street in North Hollywood and died at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26.
Det. Steve Castro of LAPD's North Hollywood station said Manukyan had been in an argument earlier in the day with another man. The two met again in the street, and the argument escalated to gunfire. Police responded to calls of shots fired and Manukyan was taken to Holy Cross hospital, where he died. He had been in the country about one year, Castro said.
 Pedro Renteria, a 21-year-old Latino man, was killed during a confrontation with police at 1418 W. 225th Street in LAPD's Harbor area, and died at 9:42 p.m. Thursday, April 26. Renteria died after a police chase.
LAPD Harbor gang officers were patrolling near Halldale Avenue at about 6:40 p.m. that night when they were told there was an armed gang member in the area, wearing a blue hat and a blue shirt.
Nearby, they spotted a man matching the description -- Renteria. He and his two companions ran away, and the officers followed. Renteria ducked inside an apartment building and tried to escape by climbing out an opposite window. He was carrying a gun, and pointed it at the officers as he came out, they said. LAPD Harbor Officer Daniel Robbins, 36, fired at him. Renteria retreated back into the building. SWAT officers surrounded the building and eventually found him dead inside, an apparent shooting victim. He was found with a loaded handgun.
Jesse Kyle, an 18-year-old Latino youth, was stabbed at 653 E. Casad St. near Covina High School in Covina and died at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24.
 Kenneth Frison, 18, a black youth, died at California Hospital at 9:31 p.m. Monday, April 23, after lingering for three weeks on life support. He was shot in the head April 1 at the corner of 94th Street and Gramercy in LAPD's 77th Street Division.
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 Enrique Beltran, 21, a Latino youth, was shot in the head at 10926 Truro Ave. in Lennox and died at 9:07 p.m. Monday, April 23. He was standing with a male friend, also Latino, down the block when another Latino man about 18 to 22 years old got out of a dark-colored Honda-type car and started shooting, sheriff's investigators said. The friend ran and made it to the cover of a parked car; he was shot in the leg, treated at a local hospital and released. Beltran didn't make it, and died at the scene. The suspect fled. Deputies at the Lennox station a couple of blocks away heard the gunfire. (Update)
Continue reading "Enrique Beltran, 21" »
Vasquez heard shots. Two days later, he came out on a Sunday to look at the shrines on Figueroa, where at least one person had died.
He is former soldier from civil war-torn Guatemala. "This is a never-ending story," he said, looking at the shrines. "On these streets there is someone dead on every corner."
 Vasquez spoke in excellent but heavily accented English, of which he was proud. Just one year in school here, he said.
He told this story: As a youth, he was drafted into the Guatemalan army. The government was forcing soldiers to go into the mountains and kill entire of villages of people. Vasquez did not want to do it. So after he was trained, he fled the country, first to Mexico then to the United States.
His old army friends in Guatemala stayed and fought the war. Later he learned that several committed suicide, became drunks, or "walked around like zombies"--tormented by flashbacks of what they'd done. "One million dead. One million disappeared. Their bodies were never found," he said. "If there is an identified enemy, I would fight for my country. But in a fight between brothers, nobody wins."
In South-Central L.A., where he came in 1991, there were frequent gunshots. "From one war to another war," he said. He worked for low pay. "Why are you working?" his friends here asked him. They all joined gangs. It was an easier way to make money. They wanted him to join, too, but again, he didn't want to do it. He had managed to get out of Guatemala "with clean hands," he said--that is, without killing anyone--and he wanted to keep it that way.
 Eric Mandivelle earned six dollars and eighty cents an hour working part-time at McDonald's in Long Beach.
He combined his money with the paychecks his sister Lavonne earned at her job as a nursing assistant. There was just enough for the pair to get by.
The siblings had been raised in foster care. They didn't know where their father was, said Lavonne, Eric's elder by five years. Their mother had drug problems and vanished. For years Lavonne thought she was dead.
When Lavonne turned 18, she was emancipated from foster care. She immediately took her brother out of the system to live with her. The two of them survived however they could, sometimes relying on motel vouchers from homeless shelters to stay off the streets.
They went to school. They worked. Eventually, they were able to afford a small apartment off an alley in North Long Beach. In front, men drank out of cans in paper bags and music from car stereos boomed. But it was an improvement on where they'd been.
Eric would start getting ready for work two hours before he had to leave. He shaved so closely that his neck was peppered with little nicks. He toiled over his shirts, which always looked crisply ironed. He put on his McDonald's apron and his hat. His sister marveled that he wasn't embarrassed to wear them on the bus. "Am I down?" he would ask her, worried that some part of him still did not look groomed. Then he set off, always forgetting to turn off the iron.
At work, his co-workers and bosses knew nothing of his history. He was a well-liked employee--quiet, earnest, clean-cut. He often asked his bosses how he was doing, how he could get better, said McDonald's supervisor Don Cunnane. "I still can't believe it. Such a good kid," he said.
He was shot at 1872 Locust Ave. in Long Beach as he headed to the local store to buy cigarettes around 2 a.m. Sunday, April 22. Later that morning, bosses at McDonald's noticed Eric hadn't shown up for work. Cunnane, the franchise supervisor, was so concerned that he came out to the crime scene.
In the days after, Lavonne cried on the floor and had visions of Eric. She thought he was trying to tell her who killed him. "It was just me and him," she said. "He was all I had left."
(A friend of Eric Mandivelle's scrubs a car at a street car wash held to raise funds for his funeral on Sunday, April 29, in Long Beach.--Francine Orr/LAT)
 This is a sketch of the young Latino man sheriff's homicide detectives believe killed construction worker and father Enrique Beltran in Lennox earlier this week. The suspect is a Latino man in his 20s who was in a dark-colored compact car, possibly a Honda. Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's homicide investigators at (323) 890-5506 or (323) 890-5510.
Enrique Beltran was gunned down in a front yard on a dead-end street--the 10900 block of Truro Avenue--on Monday, April 23.
An unusually large number of longtime LAPD homicide detectives are retiring this year as their retirement deferments--like those of other people in the department--are expiring.
Investigating homicides is a craftsman's job that takes years to master. Older detectives accumulate skills and train the young, so these detectives take with them troves of experience.
 And they worked for it. To be a homicide detective over the past three decades was to see the historic pinnacles of the homicide problem such as may never be seen again--if we're lucky. The years 1980, 1991, 1992 and 1993, for example, saw homicide numbers in Los Angeles reach heights that dwarf current levels. In 1980 alone there were over 1,000 homicides citywide, more than double today's levels amid that era's smaller population.
For the detectives who toiled through those times multiple callouts per weekend were the norm. They sacrificed personal lives and sleep, chasing homicides that got little public attention. For example, Det. Frank Bolan, of Wilshire Division, the precinct covering Koreatown and Fairfax, tells of the days when Wilshire had 85 homicides a year. The present-day division doesn't compare. Wilshire had just 23 homicides last year.
To do such a job long term, you have to like it. "It is not conducive to family life," said Bolan, who retires single. He cites callouts, court appearances, "long hours and search warrants and all that. A pretty dedicated bunch of people work homicide." It suited him, though. "I'm a working cop, man. That's why I never wanted to be promoted or in an administrative job." RHD's Grayson concurred: "They say if you like your job, you never work a day in your life, and that's how it was," he said.
The detectives retiring in April include Lt. Don Hartwell of Robbery-Homicide Division, with at least 39 years on the job; Lt. Jimmy Grayson, also of Robbery-Homicide, also with 39 years; Det. Ron Phillips, the supervisor of West Los Angeles Division homicide, with 40 years; Det. Chuck Tizano, a longtime 77th Division investigator, who has more than 30 years; Det. Brian Tyndall of Robbery-Homicide, at least 36 years; Det. Jack Giroud of Robbery-Homicide, 51 years; Det. Frank Bishop of Foothill Division, and Bolan, who became a police officer in 1969 and who was recently told he has the department's longest unbroken record of investigating homicides: 29 years in the unit and 1,822 homicide investigations under his belt.
(Above, West L.A. Det. Ron Phillips on his third-to-last day at work. Above right, leftover tape at a homicide scene after an investigation was completed.)
Orange County Homicides: Just two, from a single high-profile incident. Click below.
Continue reading "" »
 What's behind this sign on Broadway south of Manchester?
Four decades of frustration and heartbreak, that's what.
James Mays, a medical doctor with two clinics in the hard-scrabble black neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles, had the sign made about 1 1/2 years ago, he said, after one too many of his patients came in on a Monday morning, saying: "Guess whose son just died!"
Continue reading ""Little Baghdad"" »
For this week's map by USC professor Michael Quick, click here.
(Tan markers indicate more recent homicides; click on markers for details of each case.)
map introduction
South-Central: These five girls were clustered at the fence at John Muir Middle School on Monday, peering at the shrine left on the sidewalk outside for Wilbert Jones, below, who had been killed within a few yards of the school grounds. It was at least the second homicide that has occurred just outside a public school in South Los Angeles this April. All the girls understood what the shrine was for. One said the victim was a friend of an acquaintance; a second said she knew someone who had been shot and killed recently; a third recounted the robbery killing in her neighborhood of Jorge Ramirez on Feb. 22, telling this reporter somewhat more detail than police had provided. Said a fourth: "It's the boys, isn't it? It always happens to the boys."
(This the coroner's official weekly list, combined with information from law enforcement. Homicides reported in previous days are updated here, and archived.)
 (Note at the site where Wilbert Jones was murdered.)
 Michael Rodriguez, 18, a Latino youth, was shot 17 times at close range in the L.A. River just south of the Colorado Street overpass on the I-5 Freeway in Atwater Village at about 10 p.m. Saturday night, April 21. His body, which was found lying about a foot from the moving water, was spotted by two joggers early Sunday morning. Detectives learned that people in the area had heard the gunshots the previous night, but no one had called police. Anyone with any more information is asked to call LAPD Dets. Larry Burcher or Dick Di Croce at (213) 847-4261.
Alfred Henderson, 47, a black man, was shot at 2010 Lime Ave. in Long Beach and died at 5:27 a.m. April 22. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. His time of death was listed as 5:27 a.m. He was with a black woman, 52, who also was struck by gunfire. She was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. The two were standing in front of a home when they were shot.
 
Wilbert Jones, 25, a black man, was shot multiple times at 1107 59th St. in South-Central Los Angeles and died at 1:15 a.m. Sunday, April 22. Police responded to an assault-with-a-deadly weapon call at about 12:35 a.m., and found him wounded in the torso next to his car in the street. He died at California Hospital. His assailants may have been driving a white car. Anyone who saw or heard anything is asked to call LAPD 77th Street Division Det. Rocky Sato at (213) 485-1383. Anonymous tips are welcome.
(Above, passers-by stop to view the shrine of Wilbert Jones on 59th.)
 Eric Mandivelle, 20, a black man, was shot at 1872 Locust Ave. in Long Beach and died at 2 a.m. Sunday, April 22. Long Beach officers responding to a shots-fired call, which came at 1:40 a.m., found him lying on the grass. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not a gang member. He worked at McDonald's.
"Soft-spoken and quiet-like," is how an acquaintance described him. "A little sharp guy who had his head on straight," said another. "He was not the type to be hanging out." At 20, he was on his own in life, getting by with a fast-food job and living in small apartment off an alley with his sister. At the North Long Beach McDonald's, he took pains every day to greet an older Latina employee in Spanish. "He'd say, 'hola! Como esta?" she said, then began to cry. Anyone with any information, including anonymous tips, is asked to call Long Beach Det. Pat O'Dowd at (562) 570-7244. See: Dispatch
 Carvell Baker, 35, a black man, was shot in the head in the 1400 block of Westwood Boulevard and died at 11:40 p.m. Saturday, April 21. Police responding to an assault call found him dead in front of a 7-Eleven. They said a man walked up behind him, shot Baker, and ran. There was no fight or exchange of words immediately prior to the shooting. Detectives are trying to figure out whether there might have been an earlier quarrel that prompted Baker's attacker to target him. "Not much to go on," said one detective. Police describe Baker as a local panhandler, well-known to West L.A. officers and people in the area. Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD West L.A. Division at (310) 575-8917.
Isaac Lashon Tobias, 23, a black man, was shot at 12049 Willowbrook Ave. in Willowbrook on Friday, April 13, and died at St. Francis hospital at 7:04 p.m. Thursday, April 19. Investigators said he was arguing with two black men in front of a house, and both took out guns and shot him.
Ho Yeol Ki, a 44-year-old man of Korean nationality, was shot in the head at 401 S. Detroit Ave. in the Fairfax district (LAPD's Wilshire Division). His time of death was listed as 10:03 p.m. Thursday, April 19; police called his death part of a murder-suicide. The shooting took place about 9:30 p.m. Sook Y. Key, 42, his wife, is believed to have shot him, then turned the gun on herself in an act related to domestic violence, they said. The couple had been married about a year.
 Michael Huguez, 23, a Latino man, was shot in a van in front of 1948 E. 78th St. in Florence in a double homicide. He died at 4:10 a.m. Thursday, April 19. Huguez was pronounced dead at the scene. Leonard Munoz, below, was also shot; Munoz was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Capt. Ray Peavy of Sheriff's homicide called this, "the opposite of a drive-by." He said the pair were driving down the street when people on the sidewalk fired at them with a high-powered assault rifle, striking both.
 Leonard Munoz, 26, a Latino man, was killed in the same double homicide incident described above. He was shot in the face and back and died at 4:24 a.m. Thursday, April 19.
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 Maurice Hill, 41, a black man, was shot multiple times at 6424 S. Vermont Ave. and died at 12:11 a.m. Thursday, April 19. He was gunned down in front of a liquor store in LAPD's 77th Street Division at about 10:35 p.m. Wednesday, April 18. Hill was transported to a hospital, but failed to respond. Investigators seek information about two suspects who drove alongside him in a dark colored vehicle. Call (213) 485-1385.
At the scene, friends of the victim stood mourning on Thursday. They described Hill-- "Mo," as they called him--as short in stature, hearty, and "a good guy." He had lived in the area all his life, and his parents and a sibling lived nearby. He had a teenage daughter and younger son, they said. "Hey now!" he'd say. "Pull your shoes up!" He drank beer in the grassy median in the middle of Vermont, under a tree. He called it his "park." Said a friend: "If they had known who he was, they wouldn't have shot him."
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 Andrew Ramirez, 16, a Latino boy, was shot in the head at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Santa Ana Street in Cudahy, and died at a hospital 3:09 p.m. April 16, the day after he was shot. He was the eldest of five children, worked at a car wash, and had recently enrolled in a South Gate adult school, his father said. Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating, assisting Maywood police. To offer tips, call (323) 890-5500.
 (Left, his father, at a car wash held to raise money for the family. Below, a medallion, held by his brother. See Dispatch, next.)
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Four days after his son's death, Carlos Ortiz stood on a street corner in Florence, waving rags at passing cars.
The event was a fund-raising car wash to help cover funeral expenses for 16-year-old Andrew, a Cudahy homicide victim (see "Weekend Homicide" below). Such homicide car washes have long been common in crime-racked neighborhoods of Los Angeles, though they may become less so.
The tradition exists because homicide preys on the poor, and bereaved families typically had trouble covering the expenses of a sudden burial. For them, the car wash was both a way to raise cash, and a kind of memorial.
Continue reading "Dispatch: Homicide Car Wash" »
 Three weeks ago, a man was found lying on the pavement on Beachwood Drive in Hollywood at Santa Monica Boulevard. He had been shot in the head.
Detectives had no idea who he was, or how he came to be there. But this week, they released what they have since learned--and a plea for help. The man was Miguel Macias, 22, pictured at left, a Cudahy resident who worked as a busboy in a club called Seven Forty in downtown Los Angeles.
Macias had been out clubbing with gay friends in West Hollywood that night, Wednesday, March 28. There was some quarrel, and Macias, in a temper, had left his friends, deciding to find his own way home. He started walking. He was probably looking for a bus back to Cudahy, although no such bus ran at that hour, said LAPD Hollywood Division Det. Robert Vargas. He was wearing a white polo shirt and blue Levi's. Beachwood, where he died at about 4:08 a.m. Thursday, March 29, was about three miles from where he started. He did not appear to have been robbed. He is survived by a mother and brother.
Detectives are looking for any tips--anyone who might have heard or seen anything that might suggest what happened after Macias started walking. Call (213) 972-2910.
For this week's Los Angeles County homicide map, by Michael Quick, click here.
(Tan markers indicate newer homicides. Click on markers for more information). Map explanation
(This is the coroner's official weekly list of victims. Cases reported in raw form by law enforcement earlier in the week are finalized and updated here.)
Anthony Valencia Ramirez, a 2-year-old boy, was killed by unknown means at 1440 Magnolia Ave. in Long Beach, the victim of a possible child-abuse crime. His time of death was listed at 8:35 a.m. Monday, April 16.
Update: An autopsy revealed that Anthony was killed by blunt-force trauma; it's not clear with what instrument, Long Beach investigators said. His mother's live-in boyfriend, 24-year-old Genaro Blanco, has been arrested and booked for murder in connection to his death, they said.
Manuel Ramirez Lopez, 18, a Latino young man, was shot in the torso on the southwest corner of Vanowen Street at Kester Avenue in Van Nuys, and died at 7:21 p.m. Sunday, April 15. Ramirez Lopez was walking through the parking lot of a state Department of Motor Vehicles facility when three Latino young men in a green Honda pulled up and asked him where he was from. He denied gang membership, and the suspects got out of the Honda and jumped on him. One of them pulled a gun and fired at least once, wounding Lopez. He was taken to Holy Cross hospital, where he died.
Police officers spotted the fleeing car, and a 45-minute chase ensued. One suspect, a 16-year-old boy, jumped out of the car during the pursuit and was caught by police officers on foot. He had thrown a handgun and a shirt into a trash can as he ran, but police recovered both. His cohorts, Christian Soto, 19, and Jose Hernandez, 19, drove on, and eventually crashed into other cars at Terra Bella Street and Arleta Avenue in Pacoima as television cameras rolled. All three have been arrested.
Misael Mendoza, 18, a Latino young man, was shot just above the heart, in the hamstring, and through the back at the intersection of Saint Louis Street and Michigan Avenue in Boyle Heights. He had been walking on the street, and died at the scene at 11:29 p.m. Sunday, April 15. LAPD Hollenbeck detectives ask that anyone with any information about this attack, including anonymous tips, call them at (323) 526-3680.
Alejandro Montalvo, 18, a Latino young man, was shot in the back in the 9700 block of Telfair Avenue in Pacoima and died at 5:47 p.m. Sunday, April 15.
 He was a passenger in a car that came under fire from a man in a silver SUV. Montalvo's companion drove him to Holy Cross hospital, where he died. LAPD Foothill detectives have named a suspect in this case: Joe Gutierrez, 19, pictured at left. Anyone with any information about Gutierrez's whereabouts is asked to call the police at (818) 834-3115 or after hours at (818) 756-8861.
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 Omar Rene Rascon, 18, a Latino young man, was shot in the torso at 849 Oceanside St. in Wilmington at 11:45 p.m. Saturday, April 14,. Rascon was at a party; an argument started outside and escalated to gunshots. He died at 12:45 a.m. Sunday, April 15. Another Latino man, 21, was wounded but survived.
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Update: LAPD Harbor detectives have cleared this case. At least one latino suspect was arrested.
 Mark Webster, 22, a black man, was shot through the abdomen near the intersection of 2nd Avenue and West 54th Street in South Los Angeles and died at 4:35 a.m. Sunday, April 15.
Webster walked outside a biker club on this commercial stretch in LAPD's 77th Street precinct area. Someone was lying in wait at a distance; the shooter took aim, fired, and hit him. Webster was with a companion who also was shot and wounded. Paramedics took them to Cedars-Sinai hospital , where Webster died. His companion is expected to recover. There had been a gang shooting in the area a few days before, and investigators suspect the shooters sought retaliation, though Webster was not a gang member and may just have been a convenient target. (Below, the block, right, the club.)
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Francisco Ramirez, 45, a Latino man, died in a homicide in LAPD's Foothill Division on Sunday, April 15, and was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. The Homicide Report is seeking more information on this homicide.
Update: It took some research to track down this homicide. Ramirez was assaulted in September 2006 near the intersection of 4th and Saint Louis streets in Boyle Heights. He was taken to County-USC hospital, and subsequently to Pacifica hospital, where he lingered for six months before dying. LAPD Hollenbeck detectives have been notified of the death, and will take up the case.
 Marquise Alexander, 22, was shot in the head at a Shell gas station near the intersection of Crenshaw Avenue and Slauson Avenue in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. Officers responded to a "shots-fired" call and found him dead of a head wound. His time of death was listed as 1:10 Sunday, April 15. He did not belong to the local gang, though he knew members well and may have been related to a few, investigators said. His attackers may have targeted him simply because of where he was, or who he knew, they said. The large, emotional crowd who gathered at the crime scene after his death included some of those gang acquaintances, upset at his death, police said. Officers described the scene as tense.
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Ramon De Paz, 18, a Latino young man, was shot multiple times at 4160 Floral Drive in East Los Angeles, and died at 1:48 a.m. Sunday, April 15. He is pictured here with his sister Maria.
Shurnell West, 25, a black man, was shot in the torso in the 3800 block of North Broadway and died a day later, at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 14.
West was riding in a car with some friends when a van pulled up alongside. A sliding door opened and a suspect fired, striking West. Friends took him to County-USC Hospital, where he died. LAPD Hollenbeck detectives are close to clearing this case: A Latino man has been arrested. Police investigators contend West may have been a black member of a Latino gang that was fighting with another Latino gang.
Update: LAPD Hollenbeck detectives have cleared this case. At least one Latino suspect was arrested.
Javier Orantez Chavez, 30, a Latino man, was shot by police during a gun battle in near pitch darkness at 3608 W. 30th St. about 8:55 p.m. Saturday, April 14, and died at the scene.
Police gave this account: Two LAPD Metropolitan officers spotted Orantez Chavez riding down the street on a skateboard and apparently reaching for something in his waistband. Suspecting a weapon, they attempted to stop him.
He jumped off his skateboard and ran between two houses. The officers followed; as they turned a corner in the dark, Orantez Chavez fired at them. Both officers, Officer Auston Price, 44, and Officer Joseph Goosby, 29, fired back. After shooting, the pair moved forward and found Orantez Chavez dead on the ground. A .357 revolver, ammunition and a "very expensive" camera were found in his possession. Police said he was wearing a holster for the revolver--a rarity in the annals of South Los Angeles crime. Orantez Chavez was not a documented gang member, though he had a conspicuous gang-name tattoo on one hand, police said. His rap sheet consisted only of a burglary nearly a decade ago.
Eraclio Martinez, 23, a Latino man, was shot in the chest and abdomen at the intersection of Slauson Avenue and Bickett Street in Huntington Park and died at 12:23 a.m. Saturday, April 14.
Juan Martinez, 25, was shot at an Arco gas station at 4424 S. Central Ave. in South-Central Los Angeles, and died at 10:29 a.m. Friday, April 13. Martinez was a construction worker with no ties to gangs or crime. He and his brother had stopped for gas on their way to work at a construction site at about 4:30 a.m. when their attackers shot them, possibly mistaking them for gang combatants or perhaps seeking to rob them. The brother was also shot in the back, but underwent surgery and is expected to recover. The assailants escaped in a four-door, tan or gold early 1990s Infiniti V30 with tinted windows. If you have seen this car or have any information about this murder, detectives seek your help. Call LAPD Newton detectives at (323) 846-6556.
*Update: This case has been cleared. A 17-year-old Latino youth was arrested.
Francisco Flores, 17, a Latino youth, was shot about 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Howery Street in South Gate. He died two days later at St. Francis hospital in Lynwood at 12:30 a.m.
Rogelio Gomez, 18, a Latino young man, was struck by a bullet that went through his head. The shooting happened at 3552 W. 108th St. in Inglewood, and he died at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 11.
Luis Salinas, 23, a Latino man, was shot multiple times by a police officer at 15444 Nordhoff St. in the San Fernando Valley. He died at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11.
The incident took place in a church parking lot at Langdon Avenue and Rayen Street in the north San Fernando Valley, police said. Salinas had been driving a car that collided with other cars in a series of accidents just prior to the shooting. At the church, he attacked a male employee. A pursuing officer from LAPD's Mission station, Officer Jerold Chase, 33, tried to pull him off the employee. Salinas, police said, somehow got Chase's baton out of its ring and hit him with it, striking the officer's head. Knocked to the ground, Chase fired his weapon, killing Salinas.
 Jose Alberto Damian Valdez, 45, was shot in the neck about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at 4239 S. Olive Street in South-Central Los Angeles. He died at California Hospital at 11:55 p.m.
The assailants, described as two men--one Latino, the other of Latino or of mixed Latino/black descent--drove up in a white Buick Regal, possibly with a red landau top, passed twice, returned and shot him. Damian had been taking out trash cans, family members said.
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John Goudeaux, 45, a white man, was shot and killed by Van Nuys precinct Officer Timothy Hope, 27, at 17600 Runnymede St. in Van Nuys. He died at 9 p.m. Monday, April 9, about two hours after a confrontation with police. Officer Hope was responding to a report of a kidnapping, police said. They said Goudeaux was wielding a metal rod and was naked when he confronted the officer.
Joel Martinez, 16, a Latino youth, was found lying in the street, dead from a gunshot wound, near the intersection of 2nd and Emerald streets. The location was in the LAPD's Rampart division, in the vicinity of LAUSD's new high school just east of downtown Los Angeles.
A passerby who had parked his car nearby overnight found Martinez in the early afternoon of Monday, April 9. The passerby thought Martinez might have been sleeping in the roadway, and went to wake him up. Then he saw blood on his body and realized he was dead. Police believe he was shot Easter evening, but Martinez's time of death was listed as 1:10 p.m. Anyone with any information is asked to call investigators at (213) 207-2060.
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