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Awki Hanifshukre Wilds, 41
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Ruben Martin Lopez Becerra, 25
Ruben Martin Lopez Becerra, a 25-year-old Latino, died on Monday, July 1, after he was shot in the 1200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner records.
Lopez Becerra was driving south on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue around 8:40 p.m. with a friend and family member, according to Long Beach Police spokeswoman Shaunna Dandoy; a 19-year-old male in the front seat and an 18-year-old female in the rear.
Investigators believe Lopez Becerra got into an argument with a group of men who were sitting near 12th Street, and the men fired several shots toward the car, according to the department news release.
Lopez Becerra was struck in the upper torso and drove himself to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:53 p.m., according to coroner's records. The cause of death was listed as gunshot wounds.
Neither of the passengers were injured, but a 17-year-old boy who was walking in the area was struck by gunfire and taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening wound to the lower torso, said Dandoy. Investigators believe he was an unintended target.
As a result of the shooting, the department has increased "high-visibility" patrols along the Anaheim Street corridor, according to the release. Investigators believe the shooting was gang-related.
Anyone with information is asked to call Dets. Ricardo Solorio and Shea Robertson at (562) 570-7244. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.
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Julius Realista Rondez, 70
Julius Realista Rondez, a 70-year-old male, died Wednesday, July 3, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Downtown, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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Miles Julian Lishey, 31
Miles Julian Lishey, a 31-year-old blackmale, died Friday, July 5, after being shot in Gramercy Park, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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Micquel Hawkins, 23
Micquel Hawkins, a 23-year-old blackfemale, died Saturday, July 6, after being shot in Historic South-Central, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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Cory Devaughn Pickett, 42
Cory Devaughn Pickett, a 42-year-old blackmale, died Friday, July 12, in Broadway-Manchester, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.
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Suspected gang member charged in slaying of USC student Victor McElhaney
A suspected gang member has been charged in the killing of a USC student during an attempted robbery in March, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced.
Ivan Hernandez, a 23-year-old Latino, has been charged with one count of murder, according to court records. The charge includes a special circumstance allegation that the crime occurred during the commission of a robbery and while Hernandez was an active participant in a street gang, the Ghetto Boyz, authorities said.
Hernandez, who also faces a count of attempted robbery, is accused of shooting and killing Victor McElhaney, 21, about a mile from campus on March 10.
McElhaney was a student of USC’s Thornton School of Music and the son of Oakland Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney.
“My husband and I want to express our gratitude to the public for their cooperation and to the LAPD for their diligent work to bring those responsible for Victor’s death to justice,” the councilwoman said in a statement. “But this gratitude brings little comfort. The young man arrested also represents a loss of life and human potential.”
Investigators said at the time that McElhaney and a group of his friends had walked from a nearby home to a strip-mall liquor store at Maple Avenue and Adams Boulevard at about 12:30 a.m.
A group of three or four men approached the students in the parking lot and demanded cash and other valuables, police said.
Detectives believe that McElhaney was shot when he objected to the robbery attempt. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died a couple of hours later.
His death, which took place just a month before his 22nd birthday, stunned the community.
Faculty remembered the jazz studies major as an extraordinarily talented drummer who was an active member of USC’s Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs. He’d attended Cal State East Bay and worked as an instructor at Oakland Public Conservatory of Music before transferring to USC in the fall of 2017.
McElhaney’s mother said the tragedy should serve as a wake-up call for the state to examine the lack of opportunities available to young people and low-income families, as well as its relationship with the firearms lobby.
“Every day, dozens of Black people are murdered in the United States,” she said. “Most are young men who are killed by other young men who are neglected, miseducated, impoverished and desperate. This is the terrorism that we live with daily and our collective failure to address this is an international disgrace.”
A $75,000 reward had been offered — $50,000 by the Los Angeles City Council and $25,000 by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors — for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for McElhaney’s death. It wasn’t immediately clear whether police were continuing to search for other suspects in connection with the crime.
Hernandez, of South Los Angeles, was arrested June 28 and is being held on $2-million bail, according to police records. He is expected to be arraigned Aug. 7.
Photo: Victor McElhaney, right, celebrates his 21st birthday with his father, Clarence McElhaney, and his mother, Oakland Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney. Credit: McElhaney family
Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.
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Nancy Romero, 46
Nancy Romero, a 46-year-old Latina, was fatally shot on Thursday, July 11, in the 300 block of Magnolia Boulevard in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner records.
Long Beach Police investigators were called to the scene shortly before 8 am. regarding a woman lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds near the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, according to a department news release.
The woman, later identified as Romero, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead at 8:29 a.m., according to coroner's records. The cause of death was listed as gunshot wounds to the back.
The Long Beach Post quoted residents as saying that Romero often took walks in the neighborhood. A small memorial at the shooting site included a note on a bouquet of flowers that called Romero "one of the kindest persons in the whole world, rest in peace." The signature read: "Your neighbor."
The shooter was described as a white man in his early 30s who fled the scene on foot. Investigators later served a search warrant in the 300 block of Daisy Avenue, looking for the shooter, but the house was empty.
Five days later, on July 16, John Jay Osborne, a 31-year-old Long Beach resident who had been dating Romero, walked into the Long Beach Police Department with his attorney and turned himself in, according to the release.
Osborne was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office for charges later in the week, according to the release.
Investigators described the shooting as an "isolated incident of domestic violence," according to the release.
Anyone with information is asked to call Long Beach Police Dets. Oscar Valenzuela and Sean Magee at (562) 570-7244. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.
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John David Medrano, 24
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Joshua Paul Andrade, 27
Joshua Paul Andrade, a 27-year-old Latino, was found dead Sunday, July 14, by the railroad tracks east of the Rio Hondo River in Pico Rivera, between Washington Boulevard and East Slauson Avenue, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators.
Andrade was a homeless man who lived in the Pico Rivera area, said Lt. Joe Mendoza. Someone walking near the railroad tracks spotted his body shortly before 9 a.m. and called deputies.
He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:54 a.m., according to coroner's records. Mendoza said it appeared Andrade was shot, but the autopsy is pending.
Investigators don't have a motive for the shooting or any suspects, Mendoza said.
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.
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Andrew Joseph Espinoza, 19
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Cristian Jonathan Alarcon, 26
Cristian Jonathan Alarcon, a 26-year-old Latinomale, died Monday, July 15, in Temple City, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.
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Jonathan Lee Hoskins, 33
Jonathan Lee Hoskins, a 33-year-old blackmale, died Wednesday, July 17, after being shot in Charter Oak, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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Genoveva Rivera, 59
Genoveva Rivera, a 59-year-old Latinofemale, died Saturday, July 20, in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.
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Rashad Jamal Budd, 24
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Marjorie Ann Arnett, 83
Marjorie Ann Arnett, a 83-year-old whitefemale, died Saturday, July 20, in South Whittier, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.
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Dimas Penaloa Quiroz, 26
Dimas Penaloa Quiroz, a 26-year-old Latinomale, died Sunday, July 21, in Long Beach, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.
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Manuel Ayala, 26
Manuel Ayala, a 26-year-old Latinomale, died Sunday, July 21, after being shot in Florence-Firestone, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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Mother to retrace her son's last steps. Four years later, she's still seeking justice
On the fourth anniversary of the killing of her 22-year-old son, Techea Adams isn’t remembering him quietly.
Instead, Adams will be walking the Compton streets where he took his last steps in the hopes of drumming up more tips for investigators. She knows that someone in the neighborhood must have seen something that day.
“I’m just hoping that they have some compassion and open their mouth,” she said.
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Starting at 2 p.m., Adams will begin her walk at her former home at 1705 E. 126th St.
She will then walk east to where her son was shot, stopping at the exact spot at the exact time of his death.
On the morning of July 23, 2015, Atkins blew his mother a kiss before he stepped outside his home to go running with a friend.
Moments later, another neighbor pounded on her door, informing her that he had been shot.
Atkins was hospitalized for four days and died at 2:22 p.m. on July 27.
Detectives haven’t made an arrest but released a photograph of a possible suspect's vehicle in 2017.
Authorities have previously told The Times that the gunman was in his late teens to early 20s, with several tattoos on his back. Two or three other men were also believed to have been in the car, which was last seen going west on El Segundo Boulevard.
Surveillance cameras captured images of the car as well as a two-tone, maroon/gray SUV, possibly a Pontiac Aztec, which might have been following along.
Atkins was a student at Long Beach City College. He loved to travel.
Adams has since moved out of Compton but said she will not give up the fight to find who shot her son.
She has even set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for a reward, in addition to the $10,000 that the Los Angeles County supervisors are offering.
“I have to get justice for my son,” she said. “I want them to see what they’re doing. Maybe if they see my pain and they see other people’s pain, then they’ll wake up.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @nicolesantacruz and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.
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Pedro Ruiz, 29
Pedro Ruiz, a 29-year-old male, died Sunday, July 21, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Venice, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
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