Jeffrey Nicola, 22
Jeffrey Nicola, 22, a white young man, was shot in the thigh, shoulder and torso at 801 N. Kenmore Avenue in the Melrose Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles--the hilly area north of Koreatown--and died at 1:20 a.m. July 28.
He was at a party--a tranquil and "square" party, involving alumni from local Catholic high schools. The party was at a vacant house thrown by parents who had allowed their daughter to use it for the gathering that night.
Around midnight, the dynamic at the party changed as strangers began trying to crash the gathering, said Rampart Sgt. Thomas Bojorquez. At some point, a conflict inside moved outside and a Latino man or youth fired many rounds at Nicola in the front yard. Officers responding to a shooting call found Nicola lying outside, dead at the scene. The suspect escaped in a car. LAPD Rampart detectives are investigating.
Regular readers of HR are familiar with the party-fight scenario for homicide. Take notice, urged Bojorquez, the Rampart sergeant: If you are at a party and the mood or the mix of the crowd seems to be changing, leave. If an argument breaks out involving anyone at the party, leave. If you are throwing the party and "you look around and you don't recognize the people at the party," call the police. "We are trying to get the word out," Bojorquez said. "When you lose control of your party, call us."
There have been at least 24 posts on this site since the beginning of this year describing murders involved in some way with parties. The following posts are just a sample.
I got caught up looking through these archives trying to see if I can recover the information of the victim of this party...I was actually at this party when The shooting happend..I was inside the house dancing...it happend to my right by the window....we thought we heard shots..The DJ stopped playing the music..Then continued for another 2 minutes..until someone screamed someones shot...People didn't believe what had happend...I actually when up to the victim & it didn't look good..he was bleeding from his mouth...it was the first time I had ever seen someone shot..& im from South Los angeles...where ud think by now..id see that..but this was in hollywood..I didn't expect this...because...It was my friends 21st bday party...& its true..we were all mostly from surronding catholic hs's...it more like a reunion..& for that to happen was just eye openning..& now it makes me think twice to attend parties...I always avoided going to friends of friednds parties..for this same reason..but to happen in my own inner circle of friends is just terrfying...My friend tells me he said he rememberd something happend by the keg..where this one indivdual showed a gun in his pants then left...& like 20 min later thats when the shotting occured...My heart goes out to the victim & his family..he was no where near gang related..nor where any of the attendees at the party...
Posted by: John Doe | April 28, 2008 at 12:38 AM
I agree with Gabe. I believe the police, city council, mayor and landlords have seriously dropped the ball here. While I don't mind people having parties, I seen many parties that resemble mini-carnivals in their scale, size, sound and number of attendees. On Saturday evenings in South Los Angeles and the adjacent county areias, it is not uncommon to find someone having a party with sound levels so high that you can home in on the location from several blocks away. Police often cannot address this situation for several hours. However, there are cases were the police will not attend to the call if you can't give them the exact address. Ironically, you don't have to -- just follow the sound. Even though none of these homes or apartments are on lots that have mansions, it is not uncommon to find attendee lists that exceed 100 people. Parties of this magnitude also impact street parking This is a quality of life problem that should not be ignored.
Example -- I came home one Saturday night, but left because my neighbors were having a baby shower on my front porch. I came back an hour later, saw dozens of young people leaving the backyard of a house a block away, joining a group of over 100 that were standing in the middle of the street. None looked very happy, but fortunately, the police (with helicopter) arrived a few minutes later. And I was worried about a party on my front porch!
Posted by: O'Dawg | July 30, 2007 at 01:56 PM
A few more suggestions on party safety:
1. If you must have a party, end it before midnight rolls around, or shortly before. The more time your guests' cars are parked in clusters on the street, the more time there is for crashers to find the party and cause trouble. All it takes is for you to turn one of these crashers away, or for one of the crashers to pick a fight with someone, and homicide may be the result.
2. If you must have a party, instruct guests not to cluster their cars around your house. Have them scatter the spots where they park their cars. You want to do all you can not to attract crashers.
3. If you must have a party, keep the down the music, or whatever you want to call the garbage I hear booming from people's stereos these days. Your neighbors don't want to hear it anyway. Keep your party private.
4. Parental supervision. Who are these people that my son/daughter has had over? How many of them are there? What are they doing? Why are there now 50 people in my basement and more coming up the driveway? There was a group of angry, sullen young men who got turned away? You know, at some point during the evening, it comes time to just send people home.
5. How about just not having parties? Face it, it's not easy to keep the crasher element away. You are not going to be able to control these people. You are better off keeping the group small, and quiet. Or rent a limousine for a few hours and cruise the town together. In your small group.
Every party needs a pooper, and I guess I'm it. But until people stop carrying guns around and using them to settle petty scores, I really think you're better off doing something else with your free time.
Posted by: Gabe | July 28, 2007 at 08:49 PM
What a terrible shame for someone to do this...It is bad if you cannot even have a party, with the fear of someone that is not invited to come and not only come un-invited but to kill. This is typical for gangbangers to destroy ones enjoyment plus take the life of an innocent person, My question is why don't they ever say anything about "White Gangs"?Its always black & latino, This is why these groups are labeled the way they are because it goes to show you that they dont give a rats a$$ about themselves, So they have to pray on the innocent!! What a shame, I don't think LA will ever change, You hear people constintly saying lets do something about it and nothing ever gets done, I believe it needs to start in your home with your family.My prayers are with the family, What a shame!!!!!
Posted by: christine | July 28, 2007 at 12:19 PM