Dispatch: "To the date, to the date"
Dennis Joe Rodgers Jr. never met his dad.
Months before he was born, his father was shot to death outside the Imperial Courts Housing Project in South Los Angeles.
On Wednesday night, Rodgers, a 19-year old black man, was shot and killed in the driveway of his Exposition Park home. It was the 20th anniversary of his father's homicide, his family said.
Police said three Latino men had driven to Rodgers' home near Normandie Avenue and 37th Street, where the killer got out of the car and shot Rodgers once in the chest.
Rodgers staggered to the front porch, where he collapsed, family members said.
They said Rodgers had been leaning against a silver car when he was attacked.
Rodgers was taken to California Hospital Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
On Thursday night, Rodgers' 25-year-old cousin, Pearl White, sat in the driveway and stared at the items that had been placed nearby in Rodgers' memory -- a navy blue baseball cap, sympathy notes and votive candles. Inches away were the bloodstains from the previous night.
"This is unbelievable," White said. "Somebody has to come forward."
Family members said they were devastated by the shooting and shocked that Rodgers' death came on the anniversary of his father's killing.
Standing a few feet away, Rodgers' great-aunt, Marilyn Loftin, 43, shook her head.
"To the date, to the date," Loftin repeated.
White said her cousin was the oldest of four children.
"He had two little sisters and a brother," Rodgers' mother, Sylvia, said before relatives escorted her away after she broke down in tears.
Family members said Rodgers, who had been searching for a job, had been contemplating moving to Las Vegas after an uncle who lived there offered him a job at a Home Depot.
"He was a loving child," Loftin said. "He was a happy child."
Police said the shooting does not appear to be gang-related.
-- Ruben Vives
Top photo: Pearl White sits near a vigil for her cousin, Dennis Joe Rodgers, Jr. who was shot and killed Wednesday night. Bottom photo: Candle and flowers left near the site where Rodger's was shot. Credit: Ruben Vives/Los Angeles Times
god bless this fam my baby died at calif hosp after being gunned down at the corner of my house and was know where near being a gang member but i guess it did not matter peace to this young man moms i know it hurts i live in the hood and see the spot everyday where my son was gunned down so i know how she feels may god have mercy on the fools who did it because what goes around comes around i believe my deepest sympathy to the whole fam
Posted by: a hurting and grieving mother | July 11, 2009 at 01:53 AM
wasn't gang related. who are you kidding? oh, I forgot that the mexicans(most of them) have declared war on blacks. any black.
Posted by: black man | July 12, 2009 at 09:38 PM
It probably wasn't gang related per say. Both suspects were latino and the victim was African American. It was a gang related, race based homicide.
Posted by: Keith | July 13, 2009 at 12:19 AM
This looks like it was a planned hit.
Maybe theres something going on in his life his family doesnt know about, and the police are tight lipped about.
Posted by: syscom3 | July 13, 2009 at 08:23 AM
This is strange, three Hispanic men drive to this guys house and Kills him, somthing had to happen or this is just a sad case of wrong place wrong time. There is just to much violence in the city of Los Angeles, and the cops are never there when you need them.
Posted by: In the trenches | July 13, 2009 at 09:07 AM
I'd say this was a racial thing. The times wont print this because they are too chicken to tell the truth. They'd rather stick with lies in their articles. Every one knows that the black and Latino gangs hate each other. It started in the prisons and spilled onto the streets.
Posted by: Nick | July 13, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Good ol' Latinos, Just what this country needs!!! I bet he wasn't even a citizen! You people have ALOT OF NERVE!!!
Posted by: PROUD2beblack | July 13, 2009 at 01:20 PM
"mexicans (most of them) have declared war on blacks. any black." uuuum, I sure MISSED THAT MEMO, because I'm mexican and never knew about that until now!!! It's that kind of demented trash that created the situation we are currently in. This crime WAS gang-related, it happened in the projects of South Central, you idiot. Like father, like son. This should be a lesson to all gang members fostering children. You are leading your children down a wrong path. Don't be selfish!!
Posted by: frustrated persoon | July 16, 2009 at 02:59 PM
His dad's death was probably gang-related; regardless of what ethnicity did the murder, it seems like he would end up dead eventually. He lived in the projects; nothing good comes out of there.
Posted by: annoyed | July 23, 2009 at 05:36 PM