The Homicide Report

A story for every victim

The Homicide Report

Trevon Coats, 17 [Updated]

April 19, 2010, 10 a.m.

Trevon Coats, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot and killed Saturday, April 17, in the 12000 block of West Desmond Street in Pacoima, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Trevon was leaving a house party about 2 a.m. when he was confronted by an unknown assailant and shot in the street, said Detective Jose Martinez of the LAPD Foothill division.

Authorities were called and Trevon was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center where he died from his gunshot wounds at 11:50 a.m., according to coroner's records.

Detective Martinez said the party Trevon attended was advertised through fliers, Twitter and a telephone party line. He believes there were witnesses to the shooting and is asking for anyone to come forward and share what they saw.

Investigators are still trying to determine if Trevon was by himself or with another person when he was shot.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detectives Jose Martinez or Heather Gahry at (818) 834-3115. Those who'd like to remain anonymous can call Crimestoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

--Sarah Ardalani

Share a memory or thought about Trevon Coats

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Remember, all posts are approved by a Times staffer. Profanity and personal attacks will not be approved.

74 reader comments

Bottom line, kids who are out that late are risking trouble. There is a curfew. Of all of my 700 in south Los Angeles, the one that was shot was an angry young man who dropped out of school- a very sad situation indeed.

There is no rationalization for a 17 year old to be at a party at 2 am. He should be home doing homework. Self examination and self -reflection are in order but I often find these in short supply in some communities.

This is a horrible loss for his family. Kids, please, there are many activities you could be engaged in that are safer than flyer parties and hanging out at 2 am. Read a book, the LA city pools are often open until 8 or 9 pm. There are church activities and some museums are open late. Then go home and get some sleep.

— LA Teacher Oct. 25, 2010 at 11:07 p.m.

First, I would like to send my deepest reqret to the friends and family of Trevon Coats.

I would like to take a moment to give my opinion about all the uproar of the poster "syscom3", some of the questions he asked are valid in some of his post.

I remember a couple of years ago a murder took place, and the moment the name hit the blog, the community was outraged and glad that this man was dead, they said he was a meance to the neighborhood, one mother came on and accused the dead man of killing her son years before.

I think "syscom3" is here to get us angry again about our comunity, and he is right. Some of the local black politicans only come out when a cop kills a guy, where are they when our young men and women are being killed in the streets like animals.

There is no right answer to our problem and sometimes "syscom3" gets it wrong, but a lot of times he is right, disrespectful as it may be, but what other forum do we have, at least its dialog.

And its not just the inner city, killings are branching out, when are we going to say enough is enough, everytime a raid or search warrent is served, my school goes on lock down, I talk to elementray kids about murders, I heard a 2nd grader refer to the police as "Po-Po".

They refer to "Bounty Hunters", Grape Street Crips", East Side Crips", as if they were the norm, for them it is. For them its the brothers, fathers, grandfathers, they see murders, they see raids, some of our school kids see it all.

When is enough, enough, and to you "syscom3", there is so much corruption in our public service as well as our law enforement, we will need a army to fix this. When a California Correction Inmate can use facebook from prison, you don't think that a phone walks in the door from a visitor do you, well it doesn't all the, it comes when the correction officer comes to work...so intead of being part of the problem, lets be part of the solution, I am told I must take 5 days off to shorten the school year and my school will not be having summer school, so get ready for a long hot summer...

— just me May 15, 2010 at 2:49 a.m.

Amid the argument on this page about what is or is not appropriate to leave on this blog, the vast majority of comments have been specifically about who Trevon Coats was as a person and/or express sympathy for his family.

Out of respect for them, let's move this debate about free speech and the Homicide Report's comment policy over to a post coming Tuesday. The post will be part of a weekly conversation with readers that will explore some of the topics that get raised on personal pages but ultimately would be better discussed more broadly. I will address some of Hi's complaints and explain more fully how we approve comments. Over the coming weeks, the Homicide Report will take additional questions from readers, as well as highlight interesting conversations going on among the more than 2,800 posts to this blog since January 2007.

— Megan Garvey/Los Angeles Times May 3, 2010 at 10:52 p.m.

Dear Ken Schwencke:

If you don't have the time or the man power to review people's comments on a share a memory article then you shouldn't be posting on anyone at all including Trevon Coats. As said before SYSCOM3 is not asking questions surrounding Trevon's death as he is only critizing him and basically saying he deserves what happened to him. Please read SYSCOM3 comments and tell me if you don't think so. Furthermore it is disheartening to see these sick comments from SYSCOM3 posted over and over again without even being banned or CONFRONTED! I am beginning to think you and the associates of Los Angeles Times do not have respect for the dead as you are only interested in blog hits and what not. Please say what you will but you are ignoring the facts by not reading SYSCOM3's comments.

What a horror to witness this.

— Hi May 3, 2010 at 9:22 p.m.

Hi CALI,

Without knowing which comments you are referring to, all I can tell you is that if your comments were blocked, then one of our moderators found it to be against our commenting policy. I did find one from your IP address imploring somebody to kill Syscom3, which was blocked for obvious reasons.

As to the prompt asking "share a memory," you are correct -- the prompt is wrong. It's been wrong since the new blog launched, and though we've talked about changing it to be more encompassing, we've yet to do it until today. Megan Garvey will write a post later explaining as much, and the prompt will improve.

It was never our intention for this blog only to be a memorial. We want people to feel free to share memories of their loved ones and to grieve openly, but we don't want to discourage people from asking questions about the circumstances surrounding someone's death.

As a note, we also don't have a staff dedicated to approving these comments. We do it whenever we get the time. Sometimes this introduces delays.

Thanks,

— Ken Schwencke / Los Angeles Times May 3, 2010 at 6:41 p.m.

Dear Amendment 1 fan:

There is nothing educated about what SYSCOM3 is saying but I do understand that asking questions leads to answers. However,please explain to me how basically writing in so many words that Tre'von deserved this is at any way educational. The point is that SYSCOM3 isn't asking questions as he is only asking why Tre'von was out that late. Other than that he is being blatantly disrespectful about this murder by mocking Trevon for being out so late and then saying he deserves it. Also just because someone doesn't use profanity or anything vulgar in there comments does not mean it isn't objectionable or shouldn't be banned. Like I said he has come on here time and time again patronizing Trevon and his family without even saying he's sorry for their lost. That in itself is shocking and down right digusting behavior. No SYSCOM3 comments don't make me uncomfortable in a way where I believe his constitutional rights should be impeded but SYSCOM3 is not questioning how Tre'von died like I said he keeps mocking him. Please read his posts and tell me where he is questioning anything besides one question like I mentioned before.

How clear do things have to be for you? In order for a conversation to be educated you have to first review both sides of the argument and like I said you need to read SYSCOM3 posts before you write me saying otherwise.

In regards to Trevon's friends everyone can agree that they weren't really friends at all if they let him die alone but thats not the point. The point is that SYSCOM3 is posting comments on here that are mocking this young man and I don't have to know Trevon or be a relative of his to see that that alone is not moral or decent.

Some people just don't have a conscious.

— Hi April 28, 2010 at 11:30 a.m.

Hi,

This is a public blog. You may not like what Syscom is printing but the LA Times should not have the right to block him! What Syscom has writting isn't filled with bad words with the exception of the words you don't like. This is Syscom's constitutional right to write what he thinks barring screaming in a movie theater fire...as the old saying goes. None of us like to read "mean hearted" things about our loved ones. But the opportunity to educate should be more strong then your right to block someone from writing. The constitutional right to say and write just about anything is a right that many died for. Questioning the where abouts and the whys and asking hard questions is always someones right. Just like it is your right not to have to answer those questions. An educated society is always better then an uneducated one. And like it or not part of that educated society is always questioning the actions of others. As I sat at my own desk...I too questioned why a 17 year old was out at that time of night. Good kid or not why was he out that late? I too was never allowed to be out at that time of night as a 17 year old...oh and before I forget I was raised in a ghetto city in the heart of L.A. I might not have asked the question here but when I first read the post of this death my first thought was what the hell was a 17 year old doing out at a flyer party at that time of the night and WHY WHY did his friends let him die all by himself? Seems to me that the anger you and your colleagues are feeling should be directed to the so called friends that let him die rather then the faceless nameless person who questions how he died. I may not agree with everything Syscom writes but I stand by him 100 percent for his right to write it.

— Amendment 1 fan April 28, 2010 at 12:21 a.m.

WHY TRE'VON WHY HIM!!!
U were one of the nicest guys that i ever meet!!u were such a sweet heart!! my heart goes out to ur mom and family!! u will be missed but never forgotten!!! when i heard about this i was shocked because knowing u.. u were such a sweet guy i didn't think this would ever happen im going to miss u very much!! every time i would see u i would always tell u how much i loved ur eyes and now ur gone but ur always going to be in are hearts everyone at JRWHS misses u and will never forget u were one of the most nicest guys i knew ='[..

Mrs. Coats i'm sorry for ur lose! Tre'von was one of the most sweetest guys that i knew..My heart and my condolences go out to you and your family!!

R.I.P TRE'VON COATS YOU WILL BE MISSED BY THE JRWHS FAMILY BUT U WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!!!

— elizabeth antaplian April 27, 2010 at 10:08 p.m.

Dear Megan Garvey:

"That said, because this is a public forum on a very difficult subject, we try to allow leeway for observations that could spark response and discussion or otherwise inform people about the event leading to the person's killing."
_______________________________________

So are you forwarding Terrell Lewis' statement to the police because he could SPARK some insight in to the event leading to Trevon Coats' murder?

How is SYSCOM3 actually helping to discuss the impact and causes of violence in communities? He is basically saying Trevon deserved what happened to him. He also is gloating about his morals as he is not providing any statistics or facts of why the community faces tragic deaths like this. How could you allow someone to overly disgrace this 17 year old by saying his character was questionable and that he was looking for trouble and now he's dead. Are those things not objectionable? In fact I know you may not read or post this comment but as of right now a numerous amount of my colleagues have lost respect for this blog and they knew Trevon's family. They all have read this article because they thought you guys cared but to see people leaving sarcastic comments about a minor who was murdered flabberglasted them as well as me also. Say what you will but please review SYSCOM3 comments and please explain to me how he is impacting anyone as his/her comments are rude and belittling.

— Hi April 27, 2010 at 9:28 p.m.

SYSCOM3 no one is refuting anything about violence being rampant but violence is prone to happen anywhere not just where you believe it will be. Either way you still haven't given your sympathies to the family. You aren't contributing anything to this particular article you are just provoking people and trying to basically say Trevon deserved what happened to him when you know that is not even the truth. No one deserves to have their life taken from them. Even if he was out at that time that still doesn't make it right for someone to take this young man's life. You aren't bored SYSCOM3 you are just an instigator and a mere bully. The fact that you are picking on a deceased individual alone makes you a troll. By the way your comments are unnecessary and this is not a debate. People are coming here to give their condolences with the family and Trevon not spark a debate or to focus on morals. The point is a life was taken and its time you acknowledge that and at least give your regards to the family. Besides God will come for you one day and you will have nothing to show for why you were nit picking with a slain 17 year old male and Cali you are right.

— Disagree April 27, 2010 at 9:15 p.m.

SYSCOM3 I knew Trevon and he was not the type to dwell in illegal matters. He was a very bright and friendly person. How dare you say this is not the obituaries! You are insensitive and from what I am reading you are also a moron. Not once have you given your condolences to the family. Instead of coming on here arguing everday why don't you find something else to do. I can tell you don't believe in God because this young man was murdered and here you are suspecting there is something in his conduct that only God can judge eventhough you haven't met him. You are being insensitive and just know God is watching everything you are doing and recording everything you say.

Also you are not the police so how can you get to the truth of the matter. This is just an article about Trevon. Information into the investigation will not be posted here for reasons of common sense alone so that the killer is brought to justice.
Lastly, Trevon was murdered which is the point of this article! We are not here to emphasize what time he was murdered or scold someone who is already dead. We are here to give our condolences to this young man who was murdered. Please do not come back on here provoking everyone for all the wrong reasons.

Do you not have a heart?

— I Understand April 26, 2010 at 1:45 p.m.

Syscom,

I understand what you're trying to get answers on, but you're going about it the wrong way. I did not know this young man and I will not judge him. Everyone is not in a gang. As far as you and your friends getting in by midnight doesn't mean a thing at this sensitive time. If this young man was shot at 11:59 you still will have something negative to say. I pray to God nothing happens to one of your loved ones and an idiot like you blogs about him/her being a gang member without knowing the situation. Have a little sympathy in that idiotic, black, cold heart of yours. If you need answers, go to the local police dept. and find out.I too am a Father of three young men and they are very educate non gang members, but I do worry about their well being and I refuse to let a person like you judge them.Raise who you have and educate them because KARMA is real.

Mrs. Coats I am very sorry for your lost.

— I care April 26, 2010 at 6:17 a.m.

Why are all these people coming on this site and writing about what a wonderful guy he was...when WE all know that he was NOT at this party by himself and yet NOT even the people that were there with him that night have spoken to the police? I wonder how many of his "friends" have come on to this site to say what a great guy and yet the police at the time of the writing of this story didn't even know if he was with anyone? So where is the writing from the person or persons who were with him that night? A fine bunch of friends you all turned out to be...leaving him to die on the street by himself, couldn't even stick around to hold his hands has he took his last breath. I'm sure he's in heaven looking down on all his so called friends and wondering where you all were that night!! Too bad he trusted you that much. Oh well I guess that says so much about all of you.

To his mother,

I certainly hope that you are not letting this bunch of friends get that close to you...as of right now you don't even know if this death was caused by one of them.

— Why April 24, 2010 at 4:26 a.m.

Trevon, Didnt take any calls on yesterday.......couldnt forget the one I got early Saturday morning my heart scorned........Loosing my breath thinking that this just wasnt real how could the world be so cruel? ohhh my little cousin.........who shared the same birthday as mine.You had such a warm heart,huge smile and had the best phone conversations I thought about all the long conversations you had with him my son....then I thoght of my little Aunt emmmmm........So sorry Auntee I wish Heaven had a phone so I could hear your voice again.I thought of you today, but that is nothing new, I thought about you yesterday.I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which i'll nev...er pa......rt. God has you in his arms, I have you in my heart....
We love you TREVON

— Nikia April 21, 2010 at 5:53 p.m.

To the family of Trevon, I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him, I just came across this article, and my heart goes out to his family, it's always heart breaking when a life is taken away at such a young age,I also lost a nephew last year his name was also Trevon and we called him Trey he was also 17 at the time of his death, I pray every day that this violence will stop, i'm sure the people who committed this crime has lost a love one and know the impact it had on them and their family, so why would they want to cause such pain on someone else, both of the Trevons are now with the heavenly father and the one's who committed these acts of violence will have to answer to the heavenly father, may GOD comfort your family in your time of mourning....RIP Trevon!!!

— Stop the violence April 21, 2010 at 4:45 p.m.

My wonderful friend, I only knew you for a short period time, but it felt like forever. Why did they have to take a wonderful man -not a boy. You were the only one that didn't worry about anything you just lived life like a KING!! Always with that big beautiful smile and always Happy- never letting anything or anyone bring you down. But prematurely, you're gone; with out even knowing why it happened to you :[ You will always be in everyone's heart. Never will I let your spirit die. You were always there when I needed you. Trey, you always understood me when I was down. You always made me smile and laugh when we spent time together. I thank you very much Trey you are a good person and your mother did a good job raising you. You were a good person to be around and I enjoyed every moment with you. You will never be forgotten Tre' von . R.I.P. WONDERFUL FRIEND!!

LOVE ALWAY'S MADIE

— Madeline Huertas April 20, 2010 at 12:36 p.m.