Samuel Castillo, 24
Samuel Castillo, a 24-year-old black male, died Sunday, Oct. 26, after being shot in Vermont Square, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
Samieke Lenae Griggly, 29
Gavin Smith, 57
Gavin Smith, a 57-year-old white man, was killed by blunt force to his face and skull on May 2, 2012, according to Los Angeles County investigators.
Smith, a former UCLA basketball player and 20th Century Fox executive, went missing May 1, 2012. Hikers found his remains on Oct. 26, 2014, in a shallow grave about three-quarters of a mile south of Mount Emma Road and 47th Street East in Palmdale. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office formally pronounced Smith dead on that date.
John Lenzie Creech, 32, of Chatsworth, was indicted by a grand jury on capital murder charges with the special circumstance of lying in wait. Creech was the estranged husband of Chandrika Cade, who had been involved in an affair with Smith.
Transcripts of the April 22 grand jury testimony were made public May 11.
Cade testified that she met Smith about 11 p.m. on May 1, 2012, …
Eddy Marshall Lewis Jr., 28
Eddy Marshall Lewis Jr., a 28-year-old black man, was shot and killed Saturday, Oct. 25, in the 8300 block of South Hoover Street in Vermont Knolls, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.
About 12:30 a.m., Lewis was dropping a friend off and stopped his green midsized car, according to police. As his friend, a 33-year-old man, got out of the car, gunfire erupted from the sidewalk. The friend was wounded but ran and called 911 at a nearby residence, police said in a news release.
Lewis was wounded while still in the car, and his vehicle rolled until it stopped at a curb. Lewis was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. at the scene, according to coroner’s records.
The friend was not able to see anyone before the shooting, but police said that the gunman was standing near the sidewalk.
Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD’s Criminal Gang …
Londale Rey McNeil, 34
Londale Rey McNeil, a 34-year-old black male, died Saturday, Oct. 25, after being shot in Broadway-Manchester, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
Anderson Bernard Norsworthy, 62
Anderson Bernard Norsworthy, a 62-year-old black male, died Saturday, Oct. 25, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Bellflower, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
Radio show 'Gang Talk' takes on violence in South L.A.
In the living room of her South L.A. home, 68-year-old Lita Herron pointed to a bullet hole in the stained-glass window.
Tissue was stuffed into the opening.
Herron still has the bullet. “I used to carry it around in my pocket,” she said. “It let me know that nobody’s immune.”
Herron has watched her children lose their friends to violence. She’s witnessed shootings — at a funeral and in her Vermont Square neighborhood. She's held a fatally wounded man in her arms.
After being out on the streets of South L.A. for years as an activist, Herron’s trying a different approach in hopes of making things better: The grandmother of six drives every Thursday evening to a wood-paneled radio station in Inglewood, sits down in front of a microphone and starts talking.
“I’m a little upset because it’s been a terrible holiday,” she said after a string of shootings Labor …
Ernesto Medina, 22
Ernesto Medina, a 22-year-old Latino, was found dead Thursday, Oct. 23, in the 1000 block of South Sunflower Avenue in Glendora, according to L.A. County coroner’s records.
Shortly after 3:30 a.m., a person called the Glendora Police Department to report a body in the street, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who is assisting with the homicide investigation.
Glendora police responded and found Medina with gunshot wounds to his upper torso. Medina was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:34 a.m., according to coroner’s records.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Gang member sentenced to life without parole in triple-murder
A Gardena gang member was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Oct. 17 for shooting three people to death and wounding a fourth, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Luis Erasmo Rivera Garcia, a 30-year-old Latino, was convicted last November of three counts of first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting deaths of Jose Farias, 24, his brother Victor Farias, 25, and Vidal Rebolledo, 23, and one count of attempted murder in the wounding of another man.
The four victims were at a cruising event off Imperial Highway and South Western Avenue in Westmont when an argument broke out between the group and Garcia, who was in another car. Prosecutors said that Garcia mistook the men for gang members.
Garcia pulled a gun and opened fire, then fled. Garcia was on the run for three years. In 2011, authorities did a …
Angel Martin Contreras, 18
Angel Martin Contreras, an 18-year-old Latino, was fatally stabbed Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the 1600 block of East 218th Street in Carson, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.
Shortly before 3 p.m., deputies responded to a call of an assault with a deadly weapon, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies found three people who were injured: an 18-year-old man, a 15-year-old male teenager and Contreras.
Contreras was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:05 p.m., said Ed Winter, assistant chief of investigations for the coroner’s office.
Deputies detained, questioned and released two people. The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Jose Radillo Jr., 23
Jose Radillo Jr., a 23-year-old Latino male, died Tuesday, Oct. 21, after being shot near Garvey Avenue & Rosemead Boulevard in South El Monte, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
Eddie Gonzalez, 28
Anna Maria Sepulveda, 59
Anna Maria Sepulveda, a 59-year-old Latina, was found dead Monday, Oct. 20, in the 100 block of North Gage Avenue in East Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.
When Sepulveda didn’t show up for work at her daughter’s Alhambra business, deputies were called to perform a welfare check at her home, according to authorities.
Deputies found Sepulveda’s body in the kitchen. Sepulveda was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:25 p.m., according to coroner’s records. Coroner's records show that Sepulveda died of multiple sharp force injuries.
The woman’s grandson, Armando Sepulveda, a 23-year-old Latino, was charged Oct. 22 with one count of murder with the special allegation that he used a knife, according to the L.A. County district attorney’s office.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at …
Miguel Angel Perez, 24
Miguel Angel Perez, a 24-year-old Latino, was shot and killed Sunday, Oct. 19, in the 1600 block of East Avenue Q 6 in Palmdale, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.
Shortly after midnight, Perez was at a birthday party at a home when he got into an argument in the frontyard, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A man shot Perez and a woman. Perez was pronounced dead at 12:31 a.m. at the scene, according to coroner’s records.
The woman was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Deputies allege that Alejandro Rivera, a 27-year-old from Palmdale, is the gunman. He fled the scene in a silver or beige Honda, authorities said, and is still at-large.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers …
Ruben Villalbazo Rodriguez, 70
Ruben Villalbazo Rodriguez, a 70-year-old Latino male, died Sunday, Oct. 19, in Green Meadows, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.