|
|
« August 2007 |
Main
| October 2007 »
Of all Americans, black men have the most to fear from violent crime. Even Latino men, who suffer high homicide rates, are much less likely than black men to be murdered. According to the just-released national FBI crime report for 2006, 42% of homicide victims last year were male blacks. Below, one in HR's occasional series on black men as crime victims. The young man featured is 18--the number one age for homicide victims in L.A. County through August, 2007.
Name: Terry Seymore
Age: 18
Occupation: High-school student, Fremont High (bound for Morehouse College next year)
Residence: LAPD 77th St. Division--west of the 110 Freeway
Chances that he will murdered in a given year*: 15.2 in 10,000 (based on his age, race and gender)
Chance that a Latino man his age will be: 4.9 in 10,000
Chance that a white man his age will be: 1.4 in 10,000
Q. Do you have to be careful?
A. Basically you have to watch out wherever you go.... Don't say the wrong thing to the wrong person. I watch my back all the time.
Q. Has anyone close to you been the victim of a crime?
A. I lost my homeboy Jesse in middle school. He was about 13. He died on his front porch--in his mother's arms... My cousin got shot too, but he didn't die. He was 22. The bullet went through his shoulder and pierced his kidney...I also knew another guy from middle school who got killed. He got shot up in a car for no reason. But I didn't know him well. And I saw someone get shot right here, on this block. They killed him. I saw the gun come out, and 'bang!' They did it right in front of his kids.
Q. Have you ever been the victim of a crime?
A. No. I've been banged on a couple times, but I just tell them, 'I don't bang."
Q. Tell me about one time.
A. I was 11 years old. I was walking down the street, and I was wearing blue Chuck Taylors, and this is a Blood neighborhood. These two guys stopped me. They were about 18. They asked me where I was from. I said, "I don't bang. I'm 11 years old!"
Q. Where you ever pressured to join a gang?
A. Heck no! I'm too scared to do it! I mean, I'm not a wuss or anything. But that will just get you in jail or dead. And I'm scared of that.... And my mother, she always put pressure on me. If I lie to her, she gets on me.
Q. Are you ever afraid?
A. I'm more afraid of police brutality. I had a gun held to my head by a cop.
Q. What happened?
A. I was about 13 years old. I was going to the store to get minutes for my phone, and I was running. I thought I heard shouting. Then I heard someone yell, "stop!" real loud and I saw a car door open in front of me. This cop with a gun got out. I guess a house just got robbed by here, and I matched the description of the suspect.
They ordered me down. I was lying on the sidewalk on my back. I didn't know I was supposed to lie on my stomach--I didn't know how to do it! The gun was right up to my head. I was scared. I saw my life flash before my eyes. My mom came out on the street. She was really angry. I think she called the NAACP. They let me up. I started to cry a little. They didn't apologize. They didn't say nothing...Basically, after that, I was like, 'Forget the cops. They can't do nothing for me.'
Q. Does your mother worry?
A. She makes me let her know whenever I'm going outside. She wants me to be safe and alive. She tells me to pray before I go somewhere. And I always do.
See also: "They asked me where I was from, as usual" and "I had a bad feeling"
* The homicide risk calculations above are based on homicide figures from the Los Angeles County Health Department in the year 2004. The figure for Seymore's risk is derived from homicide death rates for black males ages 15 to 19.
Arcadia: Liya Lu, a 37-year-old woman of Asian descent, was found dead in a trash can in the 1700 block of South Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia at 6:40 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15. She had been reported missing from her San Gabriel Valley home on Aug. 11. Her former boyfriend, Isaac J. Campbell, a 32-year-old white man, was arrested in Minneapolis, Minn. Police there chased and caught him on foot. San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports
Left, scene from a candlelight vigil for Erwin Escober, 14, shot on Monday at 2nd Street and Kenmore Avenue in LAPD's Rampart Division. Sept. 27, 2007.
A huge crowd showed up--at least 150 people, including City Councilman Eric Garcetti. "This is our territory. This is our time. We can change the course of this violence," The Rev. Andrew Cantalan of Prince of Peace in Cypress Park told the crowd.
Attendees lit candles, and sang "We Shall Overcome" in English, and in Spanish: "nosotros venceremos."
 First thing in the morning, the family members of Erwin Escobar, 14, gathered on the sidewalk just south of Beverly Boulevard on Kenmore Avenue where the teenager was shot Monday. Already, a large memorial of roses, stuffed animals and photos of Erwin had been set up at the site.
Someone also had a left a tinfoil package of homemade chocolate-chip cookies among the roses.
Erwin's mother Maria Escobar came accompanied by friends to add more pictures, and spoke about her son, between small sharp gasps. She is from Guatemala, and spoke in Spanish.
Erwin, her second-to-youngest child, was a 9th-grader, shy, and tall for his age, she said. 
He wanted to be a police officer--wanted to do some work for social good, she said. She saw the shooting. She was up on the balcony of a tall brick apartment building looming above the spot. He appeared dead when she reached the sidewalk--shot through the heart, family members believe. She had difficulty speaking: "I miss him," she said.
Minutes after she spoke, the detectives at Rampart's division's detective unit on Third Street, who are investigating Erwin's murder, got a phone call. Another homicide had just occurred at the intersection of 7th and Hoover, about a mile to the southwest, at a Winchell's Donuts. (Photos below by Times staff photographer Al Seib)
This time, the victim was a 32-year-old Nelsis Rodriguez. His killers hit him with a baseball bat, shot him while he was on the ground, then ran.
Passersby asked the officers guarding the perimeter what happened. "They shot a guy," one of the officers told a woman. The woman clapped a hand over her mouth and kept it there as she hurried away.
 It was at least the third homicide in Rampart this month.
Lt. Joe Losorelli of Rampart advised against trying to read a pattern in the killings. "They never make sense," he said. "None of these gang killings ever make sense to me."
But he didn't have much time to talk. At 9:15 a.m., while he was still working the scene on 7th, a Latino man in his 30s was shot about half a mile to the west--at Olympic and Beacon--and Losorelli left one scene for another.
By this time, just about every detective in the division was working, canvassing at two scenes for witnesses, and patrol units were tied up guarding the yellow tape in two places. Residents in Rampart calling 911 on more minor complaints were waiting longer for officers, or being served by officers from neighboring divisions.
The man shot on Beacon was taken by ambulance to the trauma center at California Hospital, his clothes left on a pile on the ground. He was on the operating table at California Hospital shortly after. "He fell right here!" said a woman in a dingy striped jacket. She had a lone snaggletooth in the front of her mouth, and described herself as homeless but alert. There had been in an argument, then people heard shots ring out, said Rampart Capt. Tom McDonald.
Office workers from the building across the street came down to see what happened, and stood at the tape, a reprise of the scene on 7th. Among them was German Rivera, 36, none too pleased to find himself at the scene of a serious shooting in front of his workplace.
 Rivera, in shirt and tie, had an L.A. story: He said he grew up in the Aliso Village projects in Boyle Heights. He said he was around shootings "all the time" as a child, and even served a stint in juvenile hall as a youth. But he got out, went to community college, got a job in sales, and joined the white-collar ranks, working as a credit-card consultant in the big glass office on Beacon and Olympic. "I've been trying to run away from this my whole life," he said, eyes on the crime scene.
The police working near him, meanwhile, were interrupted by yet another shooting call, nearby, again. Patrol units rushed to the scene. But this time, there was nothing. Perhaps a hoax, an officer said.
Rampart is the police precinct just east of downtown: If you were standing at the Dream Center in the former hospital building on the 101 Freeway looking south, you would look right across it.
Despite the spurt of activity, unusual for a Thursday morning, Rampart homicides are sharply down this year. And the division, densely populated, largely impoverished, and peopled with a mishmash of Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Mexican immigrants--notably those from Oaxaca state--as well as Bangladeshis and Koreans, does not have an especially high homicide rate per capita.
The weekly list of homicide victims confirmed by the Los Angeles County coroner and presented here has been delayed this week. The recent homicide entries here have been assembled piecemeal based primarily on reports from law enforcement. HR is working on producing the usual, more-complete list of victims by the end of this week.
With this feature, HR begins an occasional series seeking perspectives on homicide from various experts and observers.
First is Derrick Bell, visiting professor at New York University School of Law and author of "Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism." Bell is one of America's most well-known thinkers on race. He was in Los Angeles last week for the 40th anniversary of the Western Center on Law and Poverty, an organization he once led.
 Derrick Bell holds that issues involving race and poverty, homicide included, are difficult to combat because America has convinced itself that "if you work hard, you will make it, and if you don't, it's your fault," he said.
Click "Read on" below for the rest of Bell's comments, and his Q&A with the Homcide Report.
Continue reading "Homicide perspectives: Derrick Bell, constitutional law professor" »
"LAPD is not on the brink," of a major inter-racial crime wave, three University of California Irvine scholars have concluded after examining assault, robbery and homicide data in the city's southern police precincts.
The researchers said that, although some cross-racial crimes involving blacks and Latinos have been "sensationalized," the numbers suggest that offenders preying on people of their own race is a much bigger problem, and should remain the focus of police attention.
"It sort of goes against the more spectacular stories that have been dramatized in the media," another researcher, UC Irvine assistant professor John R. Hipp, said of the study's findings. "It's far more common to see [violence] going on within groups. We don't see any real trend here."
Continue reading "Black/Latino Violence? Scholars find no clear trend" »
The photo gallery below shows the complexity of black/Latino murder in Los Angeles. Each of the victims pictured here died this year in Los Angeles County from violence that crossed racial lines. But their stories defy simplistic assumptions:
Above, Shantell Martinez, 18, (far left among the young women pictured), is listed as the Latina victim of a homicide committed by black suspects. But in reality, Martinez was of mixed heritage, spending time with black friends who affectionately called her, "White Girl." The conflict preceding the shooting was essentially black-on-black, and the indiscriminate gunfire that killed Martinez also wounded four black people.
   
This row: Rafael Rivera, 33, (far left), was a Latino man killed by a black man. But investigators think his killer probably mistook Rivera for black. Rivera was very dark-skinned, and his nickname "El Moreno" means "the black man" in the colloquial Spanish of L.A. streets.
Kenneth Johnson,48, a black man, (second from left), was killed in a double homicide in which a Latino man faces trial. The suspect in the case, however, was a known to be violent toward both blacks and Latinos, and investigators believe the killing had more to do with the suspect's violent mood, and perhaps some minor quarrel, than with anything related to race.
Salvador Arredondo, Latino, (third from left), and Fabian Cooper, black, (second from right), were lifelong, good friends who died together in a homicide committed by black suspects. One Latino, one black: They were united by friendship, and were both, identically, random victims, caught in the middle of some gang quarrel of which they had no part.
Eugene Robinson, 34, (far right), was a black man living in a Latino world. He was the member of a Latino gang, and the suspects in his killing are Latino. His nickname, "Shadow," presumeably referred to how his complexion contrasted with that of the people around him. The eulogies written on his street shrine were almost entirely in Spanish.
(Note: HR has been following the experiences of Watts resident Barbara Pritchett, below, whose 15-year-old son Dovon died from a homicide on June 17, 2007. (See: "Dovon Harris: One Month Gone By" and "Two Months Gone By." ) On Tuesday, the Report checked in on Pritchett to talk about her life three months after the murder.)
This time, Barbara Pritchett cried throughout the interview.
She had not done this before. It's typical of how things have been, she said. She's been crying more in recent weeks. "I try to go on with my life. But I think about him every day--minute by minute," she said. "And I am starting to really, truly miss him."
That part is new, she said--the acute sense of his absence. Events without Dovon have begun to accumulate. Each new milestone carries new pain: School starting. His 16th birthday coming up. A planned family reunion.
 "I miss my baby so bad, I really do. Before I was trying to be so strong.... But it is so hard. I miss him so much."
Pritchett also has started being nagged by a small, troubling thought: "I think maybe I still don't accept my baby's death," she said. "It seems like a dream to me. Like he is just gone somewhere. I don't think the toll has taken effect yet."
It makes her afraid. She has a vague sense of reality lurking, waiting for her. "I hope I don't wind up with some kind of breakdown," she said.
Pritchett has made plans to go back to work. A job as a home health care worker is waiting for her. She is apprehensive, worried about not being able to control her crying.
For now, her days are filled with tasks for other family members. She provides day care for her 18-month old nephew Kilien (above), and looks after her 11-year-old younger brother.
Each day, she hopes to get through her morning routine without dwelling on Dovon. If she can get through breakfast, and take her brother to school, "It might be a good day," she said.
 A bad day is when she wakes up early, goes downstairs alone, thinking about Dovon.
Often she stays in the house. She goes to the cemetery. She brings balloons to the place where they shot Dovon, and tapes them to a light post. She thinks about the killers, who are facing trial. She has imaginary conversations. She asks them, "Why?"
Recently, she had her first dream about Dovon. He came back. Family members touched him and asked, 'Is it really you?" and Dovon smiled. A knock woke her. "I knew it wasn't real," she said. "But I would give anything for it to have been real."
She talked to transplant people, who told her Dovon's donated organs have saved four men's lives.
Pritchett wants to meet the recipients. They told her it was not a sure thing: The recipients might feel uncomfortable. "Sometimes they feel bad about where their organs were taken from," Pritchett explained.
 Recently, Pritchett was home and heard a gunshot. Just a shot in the air, she thought. Later she went out and there was yellow police tape on the street. It was a homicide--committed within throwing distance of her apartment building. Pritchett fell apart.
She is getting used to saying, "My son was murdered." At first it sounded too harsh, she said. But it's the truth, she said, and people need to see it.
"I think people think this happens to people whose parents are not involved in their lives. They think it's all just gang members, or that the parents are not around," she said. "They just don't know."
 A note on a trends: With today's killing, listed below, LAPD's Newton Division, located south and east of downtown Los Angeles, now leads the city in homicides, with 42 cases total this year.
Second among LAPD's 19 divisions, or precincts, is the historic leader, LAPD 77th Street Division in South-Central, with 41 homicides.
Third is Southwest Division, which covers the Crenshaw, Jefferson Park and Exposition Park areas, with 32 cases.
 Strikingly, fourth is Southeast, in Watts, which is usually among the top two divisions, but is now tied with Hollenbeck, in Boyle Heights. Both divisions have had 24 homicides. Homicides in Watts have declined significantly this year.
This web page covers more than the city of Los Angeles, and LAPD cases are just a portion of those listed here. But homicides appear to be sharply down in most areas of the county: LAPD is down about 16% in homicides so far this year, and the county as a whole, including the city of Los Angeles, is down by about 14%, according to HR's analysis as of August.
(Above, an immigrant from Oaxaca paints a landscape with the Virgen de Guadalupe on a storefront in LAPD's Newton Division, where such murals adorn virtually every commercial block. Right, a sidewalk mannequin near a shrine and a cross for one of Newton's homicide victims on Avalon Boulevard, one of the precinct's main streets.)
Lawndale: An Asian man was shot and killed in the 1620 block of Hawthorne Boulevard in Lawndale today, Sept. 18, about 10:32 a.m., said Sheriff's Deputy Oscar Butao. More information to come.
.
The following 18 posts comprise a list of Los Angeles County homicide victims recorded by the coroner over the past week, with information confirmed by law enforcement. The names will be added to the map at right.
(Left, the father of murder victim Manuel Aguilar, 19, immediately after his son's funeral. He is wearing a T-shirt bearing his son's image. In Inglewood, Sept. 20, 2007.)
.
.
Yaneth Ordorica, a 17-year-old Latina, was killed, and her boyfriend, a 21-year-old Latino young man, was wounded in a drive-by shooting at 1037 Torrance Blvd. near Catalina Street just north of Harbor-UCLA hospital.
Yaneth and the young man were walking down Catalina when suspects in a car drove up and shot them. She was pronounced dead at the hospital; he was treated for wounds to the arm and released. He was her boyfriend for two years, documented by police as a gang member. But she wasn't. She was a high-school student. She was earlier, incorrectly, identified as a 21-year-old woman. Sheriff's Dets. Ken Parry and Dan McElderry seek leads. (323) 890-5500.
UPDATE: This case is cleared by arrest. Black suspects are in custody.
Alexander Ponce, a 19-year-old Latino young man, died at a hospital after being shot at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, in the 2100 block of East Oris Street in Willowbrook. Preliminary reports stated that he was inside a truck with drive-by shooters, attacking someone who fired back and killed him. HR is seeking more information.
Luis Garcia, a 23-day-old baby boy, Latino, was killed by a stray bullet, and a 37-year-old Latino man was wounded near the intersection of 6th Street and Burlington Street -- not far from MacArthur Park -- at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, said Dt. Fred Faustino of LAPD Rampart station. The infant's time of death was listed as 10:06 p.m.
The mother was pushing the baby in his stroller as she shopped for clothes spread out on the sidewalk at a vending location at this busy, informal outdoor market spot near Home Depot. The suspects, three Latino men or youths with shaved heads, walked up to the vendor and shot him in the chest. One stray bullet hit the baby. Both the man and the baby were transported to California Hospital Medical Center. The baby died. The man is listed in stable condition with gunshot wounds to the chest.
A $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest in this case--$25,000 more than is usually offered. The case also was immediately assigned to LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division and drew widespread media attention. It's worth noting, however, that homicides in LAPD's Rampart division have been down by 33% this year. With just 15 homicides this year, the precinct ranks about ninth among the city's 19 precincts in killings. LAPD's Newton and 77th Street precincts to the south have each had nearly three times as many murders this year as Rampart, with 41 apiece.
Also worth noting is that 14 robbery-homicide detectives were sent to investigate this one case.
The other 14 people killed in Rampart division this year continue to have their cases investigated by Rampart's normal cadre of precinct detectives--that is, six detectives, total.
Update: Police announced Tuesday that 19-year-old Luis Silva had been arrested and charged in connection to this killing.
Los Angeles Times story
Martin Garcia, a Latino youth, 17 years old, was shot at 20420 Western Ave. in LAPD's Harbor area, and was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he died. The suspects were two Latino men or youths with shaved heads in a silver minivan. "Where are you from?" they demanded.
His case highlights the ambiguity of so-called "gang-related" homicides, a loose term at best that tends to paint victims with a single, broad brush. Police had documented Garcia as a gang member. But that was mainly because of whom he knew, said Det. David Cortez of LAPD's Harbor station.
He had grown up in the neighborhood, and was surrounded by gang members from early childhood, so it was not unnatural for him to know and associate with them, Cortez said. But Garcia was not considered to be deeply involved in gang life, and he had no criminal record to speak of, Cortez said. He had gone to Narbonne High, then a continuation school.
When his killers demanded his gang affiliation, Martin tried to tell them he didn't have one. He did call out after they shot him, though--not for his gang, but for his mother. "Mom, mom! I'm shot!" he reportedly said before dying, according to Cortez.
Harbor detectives want tips. Call (310) 522-2036.
Edgar Meza, 20, a Latino young man, was shot at 2425 East 109th St., between Watts and Lynwood, around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. He was taken to St. Francis hospital, where he died. More to come.
Angel Diaz, 37, a Latino man, was shot in the 700 block of Daisy Avenue in Long Beach at about 7:25 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. He was taken to St. Mary Medical Center by the Long Beach Fire Department, and he died at 7:50 p.m.
According to Long Beach police, Diaz, who is from Placentia, was talking with a friend in front of an apartment building, and then crossed the street toward two Latino men or youths, one of whom pulled out a gun and fired.
The suspects, described as in their 20s, ran east down an alley. Police call it a possible "gang-related" attack. Dets. David Rios and William Matsubara are at (562) 570-7215.
Joseph Crisci, 34, a white or mixed race man, was found shot to death in his apartment at 10500 Collette in Granada Hills at about 4:40 p.m. Sept. 15.
A friend had come to visit, and found him dead and called police, said Det. Gene Parshall of the LAPD. The means of death was not disclosed, but Parshall said investigators believed Crisci was killed sometime that day. Crisci worked as a handyman and carpenter, Parshall said.
This case remains under investigation.
 Carmel Joshua, 27, a black man, was shot in the head and killed in the 1400 block of West Jackman Street in Lancaster at about 3 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. He died at the scene. His time of death is listed as 3:07 a.m. More information to come.
.
 Charles Patterson, 61, a black man, was found dead of a stab wound to the calf at 2232 S. Sycamore Ave. in mid-Los Angeles just north of the 10 Freeway by La Brea Avenue. His time of death was listed as 10:10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 14.
LAPD Wilshire Det. Mark Holguin gave this account: Patterson lived with his common-law wife Zelda Green, 54. That night, a conflict between them led to violence, and at some point, she got a knife and wounded Patterson in the lower leg.
Afterward, she urged him to go to the doctor and get the wound checked. He refused. He went into the living room to watch T.V. instead. She went to bed. During the night, he apparently bled out from a wound that might, in other circumstances, have been easily treatable. It's possible an underlying medical issue may have contributed to his death. In any case, she found him dead in front of the television the next morning. She called her son, who called police.
Patterson was much bigger than his common-law wife, and she had bruises from their conflict, Holguin said. She told police she had been beaten by him before. Initially, the D.A. sought a murder charge and she spent three days in jail before being released. The homicide is now being called as a possible self-defense killing with additional investigation pending.
Manuel Aguilar, 19, a Latino young man, was shot and killed at 3424 W. 110th St. in Inglewood at about 8:50 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, and died shortly after, at 9:02 p.m.
Officers found him lying on the sidewalk, unconscious, with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. Anyone with information is asked to call (310) 412-5246.
.
Larry Hunnicutt, 48, a black man, was shot in the lower torso at 267 Monterey Ave. in Pomona, and died at 6:22 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. HR is seeking more information.
Ryan Thibault, 27, a white man, died of a gunshot injury to the neck after lingering for weeks in a rehabilitation center in Los Angeles County. His time of death is listed as 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12.
Thibault is a Henderson, Nev., homicide victim whose death is now counted as a Los Angeles statistic.
According to Det. Dave McKenna of the Henderson police, Thibault was found shot in his garage in Henderson on July 2. He was taken to a hospital in Nevada, and afterward transferred to the rehab facility here, where his condition took a downturn. Henderson police came to Los Angeles this week to investigate, but since Thibault died here, he makes HR's list. But Henderson will also count him among the dozen or so homicides that occur yearly in that city, McKenna said.
Juan Perez, 40, a Latino man, died from multiple traumatic injuries inflicted by a vehicle near the intersection of Gale and Riderwood avenues in Hacienda Heights. His time of death was listed as 6:41 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12.
According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Perez was a working man who stopped at a store to buy something and left his truck, loaded with pallets, parked with the engine running. A car thief jumped in the truck, and started to drive off. Perez saw him, and jumped on the truck, apparently desperate to stop it from being stolen. The suspect sped away; Perez clung to the side of the truck for about half a mile, then fell off, and was run over by the rear wheels. Perez's wife is quoted by the newspaper saying her husband may have feared the loss of his truck would cost him his job.
It is rare for a vehicular case of any kind to be classified as a homicide by the coroner's office, which categorizes homicides differently than law enforcement. Particular circumstances indicating a homicidal bent by another person usually need to be present for such cases to qualify. This one met them.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Mario Gallegos, 21, a Latino man, was shot multiple times at 309 W. Winton Ave. in La Puente, and died at 1:08 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12. HR is seeking more information.
Alicia Cox, 26, a white woman, was shot multiple times and killed in a house in the 38500 block of Sage Tree Street in Palmdale. She was visiting a friend, and quarreled with the friend's live-in boyfriend, who investigators believe pulled a handgun and shot her. Her time of death was listed as 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Police searched the area and later found the young man hiding in another residence. They named him a suspect and arrested him on unrelated warrant; he is Anthony Limaco, a 21-year-old white man. The nature of the conflict was domestic, a triangle of some kind involving Cox, although it remains unclear whether romantic issues or other problems were at stake, said Lt. Dan Rosenberg of the sheriff's homicide bureau. The investigation continues.
Lesette Guereca, a 9-year-old Latina girl, was stabbed in the 10424 block of Lowemont St. in Bellflower at 7:47 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10 at a family gathering, said Sheriff's Deputy Oscar Butao. She died at 8:55 p.m.
Lesette was visiting relatives with her family. Also at the gathering was a 23-year-old mentally disturbed cousin, Efrain Martinez. Martinez became combative and stabbed the girl in the front yard. Martinez's father wrestled him to the ground, and police came and arrested him. The girl was taken to a local hospital, where she died. Martinez is being held on murder charges in the Lakewood jail. His bail is set at $1 million.
 Walter Hernandez, 23, a Latino man, was shot multiple times at 5:20 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10. The shooting happened at 1540 E. 42nd St. in LAPD's Newton Division, just south of downtown L.A. His time of death was listed as 6:15 p.m. at County-USC hospital.
It was broad daylight, in a crowded neighborhood. The suspects drove up; one got out and chased Hernandez down. See "High Stakes." Newton homicide is at (323)846-6556.
David Pettigrew, 22, a white man, was found shot in the head at 658 Temple Ave. in Long Beach. About 8:10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10, maintenance workers doing repairs found a door to an apartment ajar and Pettigrew's body inside. The coroner has listed his time of death as 8:11 a.m. Long Beach Det. Scott Lasch is at (562) 570-7244.
(This is the last post of 18 representing the victims of homicide throughout Los Angeles County for the week of Sept. 10-Sept. 16, 2007.)
North Hollywood: Charlie Brown, 53, a white man, died this past weekend at a convalescent home almost exactly one year after he was struck on the head. Brown was injured at 6065 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood on Monday, Sept. 25, 2006, between about 9:30 p.m. and 10:20 p.m.
He had been out walking his dog. Afterward, Brown was "in and out of consciousness, up and down," for months on end, said Det. Rich Wheeler of the LAPD's North Hollywood station. The assault case is now being investigated as a homicide.
 Walter Hernandez, 23, a Latino man, was shot and killed at 1540 E. 42nd Street in LAPD's Newton Division just south of downtown L.A. on Monday, Sept. 10, at 5:20 p.m.
It was broad daylight, in a crowded neighborhood. The suspects drove up, and one got out and chased Hernandez down. He was taken to County-USC hospital, where he died.
Hernandez was a gang member--in trouble with the police, but well-liked and well-respected within a large and active Newton gang, according to Newton Det. Dennis Fanning.
 Why does this matter? Because it makes it more likely that Hernandez's friends will seek revenge. One death like this can swiftly become many. "Someone needs to find a way to stop it before another person gets killed, and then there is retaliation for that killing, and more and more and more," Fanning said.
Once such a cycle of street justice gets rolling, "The bullets have no eyes," he added. Non-combatants are often killed. Newton has already seen it's share of such shootings this year. (See: Laura Sanchez, Nelli Rodriguez, Emelio Perez).
Hernandez's death offers little in the way of a heart-tugging narrative or a novelty hook, and has garnered little publicity. Yet the stakes are high, measured in potential lives lost and public costs.
And down in Newton precinct, where a scant crew of eight detectives are grappling with 39 other killings so far this year, they are bracing for the fallout. Police are trying to get the word out that tips in this case--even anonymous ones--could help avert a bloody cycle.
Fanning and his partner, Spanish-speaking Det. Miguel Terrazas, are at (323) 846-6556.
(Right, Coronas, rosaries and the Madonna at Hernandez's street shrine.)
(The following 14 posts represent a comprehensive list of Los Angeles County homicide victims reported to the coroner during the seven-day period of Sept. 3-10, 2007.)
.
Left, a bird of paradise for victim Herbert Stevens III.
Eduardo Perez, a 16-year-old Latino youth, was shot and killed at 45303 Rodin Ave. in Lancaster at 2:41 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10. He was standing in the street. Neighbors heard shots, and looked out and saw his body lying there, said Lt. Dave Smith of sheriff's homicide bureau. Some black youths were seen running in the area, but it is not clear whether they had anything to do with the crime.
 Charlzette Bryant, a 30-year-old black woman, was shot and killed in a house in the 3800 block of Nicolet Avenue in Baldwin Village. Her body was discovered at 11:15 p.m.
She worked at a grocery store and was the mother of two teenagers. The children were staying elsewhere that night. The water was left running in her apartment after the homicide, and neighbors called police when it began to leak to the floors below.
Investigators want to talk to anyone who was close to Bryant. They wish to learn as much as possible --about her life, her concerns and the people with whom she spent time -- to help them find the person who killed her. Call LAPD Southwest Det. Corey Farell at (213) 485-2417.
Rose Marco, a 52-year-old woman of unknown ethnicity, was reported the possible victim of a homicide by arson, set on Sept. 3 at 5324 W. Sunset Boulevard near Harvard. She died at 2:10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9. LAPD records indicate there was a possible arson fire at a diamond jewelry business at 5336 W. Sunset. LAPD Robbery-Homicide is investigating. HR is seeking more information.
 Rafael Acosta Jr., 30, a Latino man, was shot as many as half a dozen times in the torso at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9. His body was found lying next to the railroad tracks near the corner of Avalon Boulevard and Bonds Street in Carson. Gunshots had been heard in the area some hours before.
Acosta had been trying, to some extent, to turn his life around, said Sheriff's Det. Angus Ferguson. He had recently gotten a job at an Alcoa plant. Detectives: (323) 890-5545 or 890-5543.
Frederick McIntosh, a 19-year-old black young man, was shot at 6323 10th Ave. in LAPD's 77th Street precinct at about 4 a.m. Sept. 9, and later died.
McIntosh, who was in a wheelchair, was on the street; the suspects, four black men or youths, drove by in a green Ford Explorer, year 1990-'93, and shot him, causing him to fall out of the wheelchair, according to LAPD Det. Carlos Velasquez. He later was pronounced dead at Centinela Hospital.
Elaine Coleman, 20, a black woman, was shot in the torso and arm by Hawthorne police officers at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9 at 14427 South Lemoli Ave. in Hawthorne, and died in minutes.
The officers were responding to a family-dispute call, according to Sheriff's Det. Todd Anderson. He gave this account:
Coleman had locked herself in a room with her 4-year-old daughter and box cutters. She was refusing to come out.
Officers met her mother at the scene, and went to the door of the room. Coleman, apparently upset over a breakup, told them not to come in and threatened to kill her daughter. The officers, both men in their 30s, broke open the door. One fired a Taser, hitting Coleman.
The taser did not incapacitate her. Instead, Coleman began stabbing her 4-year-old daughter. The officers jumped on her. She stabbed them. Both were cut several times. In the midst of the melee, Coleman resumed stabbing her daughter. One of the officers then shot and killed her.
The daughter suffered four stab wounds, and was treated at a local hospital and released. The two officers were also both transported for treatment for stab wounds and released. "The officers were lucky to be alive. And if it wasn't for them, that child would be dead," said Anderson.
 Morris Moran, 27, a Latino man, was shot while walking with his wife to his parked car near the intersection of Manhattan Place and Wilshire Boulevard off Western Avenue at about 10:15 p.m. Sept. 8.
Two Latino men came up behind him on Wilshire, said LAPD Wilshire Division Det. John Shafia. They shot him and ran. He stumbled around the corner on Manhattan before falling. His wife was unharmed. Moran, who was from Canoga Park, was taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sophia Broussard, 38, a black woman, was found stabbed to death at 2813 W. 42nd Street in the Crenshaw area at about 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8.
Los Angeles Police Det. Robert Lait gave this account:
Broussard's body was found by her 20-year-old son in the shower. She had been stabbed some five dozen times. Investigators allege that Damiean Johnson, 27, a domestic violence offender and Broussard's boyfriend of four years, fled the scene, initially taking Broussard's 5-year-old daughter Kenyon with him. The child was quickly located unharmed in the Palmdale area, and Johnson was later arrested in San Bernardino County. During his few hours of freedom immediately following the murder, he had taken the time to attend a football game.
Mireya Mendoza-Lares, 34, a Latina woman, was reported dead of blunt-force trauma in a homicide at 11721 Fidel St. The address is in an unincorporated stretch of Los Angeles County roughly between Santa Fe Springs and La Mirada, south of Whittier. Her time of death was listed as 3:35 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8. HR is seeking more information on this case.
Nina Oved, 61, a white woman, was shot in the head at 22525 Lassen St. in Northridge at about 2 a.m. and died at 9:04 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8. This killing was a domestic murder-suicide, police said: Oved's husband, Pinhas Oved, 63, is believed to have shot her, then shot and killed himself. A family member came to house and found the bodies. There was no history of domestic violence, said Det. Mike Fesperman. They were longtime Valley residents.
 Edwin Bell, a 46-year-old black man, was shot multiple times in the head and shoulder at 860 40th Place at Menlo Avenue just south of USC at about 1 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, and died almost immediately. He had pulled his car up to a group of people on foot. One of them came over to his car window, fired into the car, and killed him, said Det. James Yoshida of the LAPD.
Mario Manzon-Fernandez, 40, a Latino man, was stabbed in a robbery attempt 4101 Wade Ave. near Washington Boulevard in Culver City at about 7:35 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5.
A man with a knife confronted Manzon-Fernandez and two friends as they were walking down the street. The robber stabbed Manzon-Fernandez and ran without taking anything. Police identified the suspect as Daniel Castaneda Molano, 41, a Latino man; he was arrested the next day, and has been charged with homicide. Manzon-Fernandez was an immigrant from Mexico.
 Herbert Stevens, 47, a black man, was shot and killed on a palm-lined block of 1700 39th Street in Southwest Los Angeles at about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, and died at 5:28 a.m., said LAPD Det. Robert Lait. He was standing outside; the killers drove up and shot him, he said.
Stevens was a graduate of Los Angeles Trade-Tech college and a father of three who had worked at the Department of Water & Power as an electrician and also worked as a neighborhood handyman. Investigators think he may have been killed simply because he looked much younger than his 47 years: His 11-year-old daughter said he came to her school once, and her teachers mistook him for her older brother. See "Coping with Homicide at age 11"
 Detectives are seeking any information, including anonymous tips, on the shooting at 1756 W. 39th Street at about 2:20 a.m. Sept. 5. Although another shooting occurred earlier at Martin Luther King Jr. Park a block away, the two shootings are not believed to be related, they say. LAPD Dets. Robert Lait and Stacey Szymkowiak can be reached at (213) 485-1383.
Michael Bell, 47, a black man, was discovered stabbed to death at 601 S. San Pedro in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row area at 11:40 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4.
A passerby saw his body lying on the ground. LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said that Bell's body was found just north of the single-occupancy hotel where he lived. Police believe he had been stabbed at least 30 minutes before, but people who saw him at first believed he was just asleep on the sidewalk, and so a 911 call was delayed.
(This is the last post in the list representing all confirmed homicides reported to the Los Angeles County coroner, Sept. 3-10, 2007.)
 Sheriff's Det. Jonas Shipe crafted his pitch carefully.
He stuck to the basics: He told reporters how the victim's decomposed body was found in a plastic bag, how he may have been a soccer player in Van Nuys. And yes, that he had a criminal history.
Shipe didn't think it necessary to add that the victim was also an illegal immigrant. "You don't want to dirty him up too bad," he said. "People won't care about it."
His efforts were wasted. Reporters passed on the story anyway.
And the killer of Carlos Villavicencio is still out there.
The problem is commonplace. Many, if not most, urban homicide victims have some criminal baggage. A few are even suspected killers themselves. Public and media interest in such cases is minimal. Yet the killers are no less dangerous, and the victims no less dead.
Detectives trying to get attention for such cases walk a hard road. But Shipe, and partner Angus Ferguson, kept trying. They contacted the Homicide Report after failing with other news outlets.
They said Villavicencio was shot. His body was found some days after his death in an apartment carport at 25917 Narbonne Ave. in Lomita on Aug. 18. Residents smelled something, and told the manager.
Shipe and Ferguson were left with little to go on, except the chilling realization that somewhere out there is a calculating murderer who sealed his victim in plastic.
To find that killer, they first need to figure out who exactly Villavicencio was.
As with many illegal immigrants, Villavicencio's existence was documented only by his police rap sheet--a potpourri of drug and property crimes.
He had given police a medley of AKAs and birthdates. Was he really Carlos Villavicencio, Hispanic male, age 25? Shipe and Ferguson don't really know. They don't know where he lived, what country he was from, who knew him, what places he frequented.
For that, they need help from the public.
Somebody must have known him. He did not sneak around selling meth and stealing cars all the time, they said: Sometimes he played soccer. (They know because he was arrested once as he was driving to a game in Van Nuys in a stolen car. And they have one police mug shot where he is wearing a soccer uniform.)
Shipe and Ferguson know Villavicencio is not the kind of victim whose death gets attention. Homicides that get covered by the media outlets in Los Angeles are more likely to involve children, honor students struck by a random bullet, white middle-class people killed in places where few homicides usually occur.
That is, press interest gravitates away from the epicenter of homicide and toward the margins--like covering earthquakes in Topeka, or hurricanes in Spokane.
But a detective can't just give up. Villavicencio "is the kind of victim no one cares about--probably flopping in a room with 10 other people, going from place to place, selling dope, stealing cars," Ferguson said. But "there is a killer.... He will kill someone innocent next time."
Above, Shipe, left, and Ferguson make their pitch. They are at (323) 890-5543 or (323) 890-5545.
The Homicide Map has been updated. Go to right tab on top of the map to see the picture gallery.
The Homicide Report took a two-week break at the end of August, and missed at least 47 homicides as a result. HR is still catching up. The number is large but represents only a slight uptick in homicide compared to the rest of the year, not unusual for August.
Hit particularly hard in late August was LAPD Southwest (the police precinct around the University of Southern California) and LAPD Rampart (MacArthur Park), which has been mostly quiet this year but which saw two homicides in one day.
 Friday was the funeral for Bryan J.D. Hollis, 23, at Bethel Baptist in Watts.
Hollis died Aug. 28 after he was shot in the Nickerson Gardens housing project.
Babies cried and squirmed as the burgandy-upholstered pews filled for his service. Some of the mourners wore T-shirts with Hollis' picture.
 Simpson's mortuary staff passed out programs. On an inside page was a tribute from his mother, Eunice Blackwell:
"My son, my son," she had written. "I don't know ho | |
Name: Terry Seymore
