Double shooting in Westmont leaves father dead, another man injured

Pastor Anthony L. Williams was conducting Bible study with a small group Wednesday night at 88th Street Temple Church of God In Christ when he heard five or six gunshots.

Williams ran outside and immediately noticed that the church’s unarmed parking attendant wasn’t in his usual spot near the entrance.

Then the man came into view, limping toward Williams in the parking lot.

“Pastor, I’ve been shot,” he groaned. Williams told the 35-year-old man to stay calm. He called 911 and prayed with him. Moments later, Williams was told that another man had been injured.

Across the parking lot and outside the gates, John Matthews, 36, had been shot multiple times.

Authorities said Matthews was walking near West 88th Street and South Vermont Avenue when he stopped to chat with the parking attendant.

Matthews had been with his longtime girlfriend, but she kept walking when he started to chat with the parking attendant. She didn’t see what happened when a man walked up and opened fire, said Lt. Dave Coleman with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau.

Both men were taken to a hospital. Matthews was pronounced dead a short time later, and the other man is in stable condition.

The killing marks the second of the year for the 1.8 square mile neighborhood, which sits between Inglewood and the City of Los Angeles. Overall, Westmont is among the deadliest neighborhoods in a county of nearly 10 million people.

Friends of Matthews gathered Thursday afternoon outside the church’s gates, where there was still blood. They described Matthews as a good friend, a believer in God and a father of two:  a stepdaughter and a teenage son.

Garry King, 36, who lives in the area, said that Matthews was a man who made a good first impression.

“When I first met him, I already knew I was going to like him,” King said.

King and his friend, Leo Cisneros, 35,  last saw Matthews about 10 minutes before the killing. The two ran into Matthews at a nearby liquor store off South Vermont Avenue. Matthews said he wanted to hang out, but wanted to check on his children first.

“He was a good man, always making sure his family was taken care of,” Cisneros said.

Cisneros, recalled Super Bowl Sunday with Matthews. The two shared a small bottle of Hennessey Cognac.

On Thursday, the bottle was placed next to candles with the words, “Super Bowl 2014 last bottle John and Leo shared!” written on it with black marker.

Williams, the pastor, said he lives a block away and has noticed that the community is in "survival mode."

“This is just a clarion call,” he said.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Photo: Two prayer candles knocked over by vehicle traffic lay in the driveway of the 88th Street Temple Church of God In Christ in Westmont, where a man was shot to death and a second was wounded. Credit: Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times