Julian Elijah Boston, 24

Julian Elijah Boston, a 24-year-old black man, was fatally shot on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in the alley behind West 104th Street in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records. 

Boston was sitting alone in his cousin’s car, which was parked in the alley behind his aunt’s house, around 2:50 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Det. Ray Lugo. 

Another car drove down the alley with three people inside, and someone in the car began shooting at Boston, striking him multiple times, Lugo said. 

Boston was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., according to coroner’s records. The cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head. 

His mother, Pilar Peynado, who lives in Providence, Nev., said she and her son had been talking on the phone just 20 minutes before the shooting. She said he was the father of two young girls and a boy, and was in Los Angeles trying to find a good job and spend more time with his children. 

Lugo said investigators are trying to find witnesses to the shooting. They suspect the shooters may have gang ties, he said, but the victim did not. 

“Boston was not at all a gang member,” Lugo said. “He grew up in the Apple Valley area [near] Victorville and had been staying with his aunt for the past few months. The family isn’t involved in gangs, his cousin isn’t a gang member; he was just a kid struggling to get by, trying to find his way.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. 

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.