Widow of churchgoer slain by tagger asks witnesses to talk

The widow of a church deacon shot to death after interrupting a tagger vandalizing his house of worship scheduled a news conference Thursday to ask witnesses to tell police what they know.

Andres Ordonez, 25, a cook and father of a 1-year-old boy, was killed Sunday evening during a service at Iglesia Principe de Paz west of downtown.

He had come to the aid of a fellow parishioner who had asked a tagger to stop spraying gang graffiti on the church's cream stucco wall. An associate of the tagger opened fire, killing Ordonez and wounding another churchgoer.

Outraged city officials authorized a $50,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers. Ordonez's widow and Councilman Eric Garcetti, a candidate for mayor who represents the area, will meet with Los Angeles police detectives at the Rampart station at 1 p.m. to ask witnesses to come forward.

LAPD detectives believe there are witnesses who saw the crime but are afraid to talk out of concern for gang reprisals.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown's big tax increase spares school cuts

Glendale bear's memorabilia auction removed from EBay

22-year-old Stanford graduate wins Stockton City Council seat

-- Jessica Garrison

Photo: The side of the church where two church members who confronted a tagger spraying graffiti on their church were shot. Credit: Katie Falkenberg / For The Times