Victor Quintanilla, a 37-year-old Latinomale, died Wednesday, Feb. 3, in Pomona, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

As she struggled to fit a couch through the door of the new location of her Studio City pet store, Rachel Kennedy sighed audibly, remembering a time when handiwork around the shop came easier.

Her brother, Josh Sutter, “could build anything,” Kennedy said. “He could fix anything.”

Standing under a painted memorial to Sutter that read “Always in my mind, forever in my heart,” Kennedy and Sandra Vasquez, Sutter’s girlfriend, laughed bitterly. He would have completed the task in half the time.

“We said, ‘Josh would have figured this out,’ ” Vasquez said. “We joke and we say every day, ‘How are we surviving?’ ”

In January 2015, Sutter, 36, was fatally stabbed in a Palmdale home that was meant to become a haven for rescue dogs. Last month, as the one-year anniversary inched closer, Ricardo Medina, 36, was charged in the killing.

Medina, who appeared in two versions of the “Power Rangers” television series, has claimed self-defense and contends that Sutter broke down the door to his bedroom, according to Medina’s attorney, Allen Bell.

The killing still doesn’t make sense to Sutter’s friends and family, who say he was defined by his love of animals and his calm demeanor. The idea that he died after an argument is still hard to process.

Sutter moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to help his sister open Lucky Puppy, which specializes in the sale of rescue dogs. He was a taskmaster during construction at the original location and after, she said, wielding tools and caring for the dozens of dogs scrambling around the store.

The dogs also had helped bring love into Sutter’s life. He began dating Vasquez one year before his death. They met at Lucky Puppy. Vasquez said she was drawn to Sutter’s warm nature and willingness to talk to anyone.

Sutter’s drive to care for the dogs led him to move to the Palmdale home where the killing occurred. Kennedy rented the ranch property with hopes of turning it into a “dog paradise,” a wide expanse for the animals she couldn’t place in a home.

Kennedy had previously hired another man — Medina — to care for the animals. But his behavior was growing erratic and concerning, she said. After one argument, Medina threatened to release the dogs into the wild.

Medina’s increasingly disturbing actions came to a head on Jan. 31, 2015. After an argument with Sutter inside the Palmdale home, police say Medina stabbed Sutter with a sword, killing him.

Sutter was on the phone with his father, Don, just minutes before the deadly confrontation with Medina, discussing ways to grow organic vegetables to feed the dogs at the ranch.

“There’s not a mean bone in him,” his father said.

At the new pet store, Kennedy clutched a vial of her brother’s ashes, trembling at the thought of his last moments.

“To continually stab someone, over and over and over again … that’s not a split-second decision,” she said. “That’s a killer.”

Kennedy, who has a tattoo on her forearm that matches the painted memorial in the store, felt she needed to do more to honor her brother’s memory. Lucky Puppy’s new location opened Jan. 31, 2016 — the one-year anniversary of his death.

Contact the Homicide Report. And follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Photo: Josh Sutter. Credit: Family photo.

A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder in the December 2015 shooting death of another man in San Gabriel, authorities said.

Giorgio Steve Rios, a Latino, is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 23 in Department 5 of Los Angeles County Superior Court in Alhambra, according to Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. 

He is being held in lieu of $2-million bail.

Steven Escobar, a 29-year-old Alhambra resident, was visiting with three friends in the front yard of a San Gabriel home about 7 p.m. Dec. 6 when Rios, wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt rode up to the group on a push scooter, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Joe Mendoza. 

Rios exchanged a few words with the men, then fired a single round into the group, striking Escobar in the chest, authorities say. He fled on foot, leaving his scooter behind. Escobar was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.

Rios was arrested on suspicion of murder Jan. 29, based on information received from witnesses, Mendoza said. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting, Mendoza said, and don't know if Escobar was the target of the attack. 

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.

The fear in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles lingered long after the grisly discovery last fall of two teenagers killed at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park.

Some locals changed their daily routines, avoiding favorite hiking trails or nightly walks. Others stayed away from the popular park altogether.

As the months progressed without an arrest, residents would stop and ask Roy Payan, a member of the neighborhood council, what was happening with the investigation.“Are you sure LAPD cares about us?” they asked him.

On Thursday, authorities announced a break in the case as Los Angeles County prosecutors charged two accused gang members with carrying out the brutal killings.

Prosecutors allege that Dallas Stone Pineda, 17, and Jose Antonio Echeverria, 18, killed the two teenagers to further the activities of a gang, according to a complaint filed by the district attorney's office.

The murder charges come more than three months after the bodies of Gabriela Calzada, 19, and Briana Gallegos, 17, were found in bushes off a trail in the park.

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the women were killed in a “horrific scene.” One victim was shot, he said. Both were bludgeoned, but he declined to say with what. The district attorney's complaint said Echeverria used a rifle to kill Calzada.

“These victims were brutally murdered,” Beck said. “They were known to the suspects who committed the murder. They were also specifically targeted by those suspects.”

Investigators, Beck said, believe no other people were directly involved in the killings. Authorities declined to go into further detail about a motive for the crime or how the suspects knew the teenagers.

Shortly after a woman discovered the bodies on Oct. 28, an uneasiness permeated the neighborhood. Residents gathered at community meetings, questioning whether they were safe. Some feared a serial killer was on the loose, a rumor police quickly tried to dispel.

Detectives remained tight-lipped, even as residents and reporters watched police search three homes in connection with the case in mid-November.

Toward the end of the month, the case was reassigned from Hollenbeck investigators to the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division, which usually investigates high-profile or complex cases.

“Literally dozens of detectives were assigned to work this case,” Beck said.

Investigators examined forensic evidence and interviewed dozens of people, he said. Echeverria was initially arrested on suspicion of shooting at an occupied vehicle. Prosecutors also charged him with attempted murder, shooting at a car and bringing methamphetamine into a jail.

Echeverria used the moniker “Klepto” and Pineda used “Trippy,” prosecutors allege. The district attorney's office said prosecutors would decide later whether to seek the death penalty for Echeverria.

Pineda, who is charged as an adult, is ineligible for execution because of his age. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Pineda and Echeverria appeared dressed in jail scrubs in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday afternoon. As Superior Court Judge Sergio C. Tapia ordered them held without bail, a woman in the audience held her hand over her mouth and quietly wept.

She declined to comment after the hearing.Tapia delayed an arraignment for the pair until March 8.

Arrest records list Echeverria's home on Topaz Street, just blocks from the entrance to the park.

On Thursday, a woman who did not identify herself told a reporter through the metal screen door that Echeverria's family was not home.

“We have nothing to say,” she said.

At the site where the bodies were found, two easels sat along a ditch off an empty trail. Deflated balloons hung from one, which held a photo of Gallegos. On the ground next to the other was a broken photo frame with no photograph.

Eric Calderon, 18, who was walking his dog along the trail, said he lives around the corner from where Echeverria resides and was shocked when police searched the home in connection with the killings.

“Hopefully they caught the right guy,” he said.

Zoyla Perez, 72, who has lived in her home at the foot of the park since 1987, said she was glad police had arrested suspects in the case, but she was saddened — and frightened — to learn one of the men lived nearby.

“It scared me a little,” she said in Spanish. “We didn't think that the people who did it would live so close.”

The bodies were found along her favorite walking path, one she now no longer takes. She said she also has stopped leaving her front door open in the evenings for fresh air out of fear of the gunshots she hears at night.

Recently, a 25-year-old was shot and killed down the block. Police said he had no gang ties and was simply out with his friends.

The mother of the 17-year-old victim said news of the charges did not bring relief. Instead, it was a reminder that her daughter, Briana, was gone.

“It brings back so many things,” she said.

The mother, who did not want her name published out of concern for her safety, said she doesn't want to get involved in the upcoming court proceedings.

“I just want this nightmare to get over,” she said.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @nicolesantacruz and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

--  Times staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report

Photo: Police carry items away from a residence in the 4400 block of Topaz Street in Montecito Heights. Police served a series of search warrants in November in the neighborhood and detained some people for questioning as they continued investigating the deaths of two teenagers whose bodies were found in a park. Credit: Liz O. Baylen, Los Angeles Times

Ignacio Tovar Peña, a 52-year-old Latinomale, died Thursday, Feb. 4, in East Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Jeremiah Dunn, a 17-year-old blackmale, died Sunday, Feb. 7, in Compton, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

A fourth person was charged last week with killing a Downey real estate agent in a home invasion robbery in January, authorities said.

Michael Harrod, a 24-year-old from Anaheim, pleaded not guilty Feb. 2 to murder, home invasion robbery and first-degree burglary with the person present, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Harrod is a white man, according to online sheriff's department records.

Three other men have also been charged in the crime.

Harrod, who is related to a longtime friend of the victim, Jim Rudometkin, 59, had known him “for some period of time,” said Downey Police Sgt. Kevin McCaster.

Harrod was aware that Rudometkin was in the process of moving from his childhood home into an apartment, McCaster said.

“They believed him to be of some wealth, and possibly an easy target since he wouldn’t be there,” McCaster said.

Investigators believe Harrod helped plan the break-in at Rudometkin’s home, and drove the other three men there on Jan. 17,  McCaster said.

When the men arrived at the home and knocked on the door, they heard a television and Rudometkin eventually answered at the side door, McCaster said.

A neighbor saw the suspects push Rudometkin inside the home and called police, McCaster said. When officers arrived, the three men ran out the back door of the home and jumped over a fence. Investigators found Rudometkin inside, unresponsive. He had been tied up and beaten, and the cause of death was listed as blunt-force trauma and heart disease.

Two of the suspects, Henry Willie Sao, 28, of Long Beach, and Paul Darvais Misikei, 18, of Anaheim, were arrested shortly after police arrived. Investigators arrested 17-year-old Sakaopo Atanasio Folau of Anaheim on Jan. 19.

All three are charged with capital murder, home invasion robbery and first-degree burglary with a person present.

Misikei and Sao could face the death penalty if convicted.  Folau, who has been charged as an adult, is ineligible for execution because of his age. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors have not yet said if they will pursue the death penalty in the case.

The four are due back in court Feb. 10 in Department J of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Norwalk Court.  

Jose Juan Mendez, a 16-year-old Latino, was shot by Los Angeles police Saturday, Feb. 6, near South Lorena and East 6th streets in Boyle Heights, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 10:45 p.m., officers spotted a stolen vehicle and began following the male driver, LAPD Officer Rosario Herrera said.

Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters Tuesday that when officers approached the vehicle, the driver “armed himself with a sawed-off shotgun,” resulting in the shooting.

The driver, later identified as Mendez, was close to officers but said he did not know whether the teen pointed the gun at police.

The chief said he expected to learn more about the deadly encounter during an in-depth briefing in the coming days.

Mendez was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:56 p.m., according to coroner’s records.

No officers were injured during the confrontation, Herrera said.

The shooting will be reviewed by the L.A. County district attorney's office, Police Commission and its inspector general, which is customary in all police-involved shootings.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Andre Alexander Howard, a 23-year-old black man, was fatally shot Saturday, Feb. 6, in the 3400 block of West 67th Street in Hyde Park, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 12:45 p.m., Howard was standing in the area when a person rode up on a bicycle, LAPD Det. Chris Barling said.

There was a small verbal exchange, then the man pulled out a gun and shot Howard.

Howard ran east and collapsed at the back door of a beauty salon, Barling said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1 p.m., according to coroner’s records. 

So far, the gunman has been described as a Latino in his late teens or early 20s, Barling said.

The killing does not appear to be racially motivated, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5113. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @nicolesantacruz and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Samuel White, a 44-year-old black man, was shot and killed Saturday, Feb. 6, near South Broadway and West 93rd Street in Broadway-Manchester, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 9:30 a.m., White was walking west on West 93rd with another man when a person walked up to the two, LAPD Det. Rick Gordon said.

There was a short verbal confrontation, then the man pulled out a gun and shot at White and the other man.

White was pronounced dead at 9:45 a.m. at the scene, according to coroner’s records. The other man with White was not injured.

The gunman got into a vehicle and drove away. Police are still working on a vehicle description.

Anyone with information is asked to call the  Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5111. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @nicolesantacruz and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Rashell Laverne Clarke Jr., a 39-year-old blackmale, died Saturday, Feb. 6, in Lancaster, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

California Department of Motor Vehicles officials have stopped releasing the photographs of dead people, changing a longstanding practice that allowed news organizations access to the images.

The decision, according to the DMV, was prompted by dozens of national and international requests for photos of the 14 victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December.

“The DMV is also concerned for family members who must cope with the loss of someone they love, and wants to respect their privacy,” the department said in a statement.

In the case of the terrorism victims, photos of all the dead were quickly available from family and friends. But in many other cases, the DMV often was the most reliable source of a verifiable image.

The Los Angeles Times since has made at least three requests for photographs through the California Public Records Act that were denied by the department.

The denial is linked to a section of California’s Vehicle Code that prohibits the distribution of the photographs unless it is requested by the license or identification card holder.

The DMV also cited another section of the vehicle code that states that all records “relating to the physical … condition of any person … are confidential and not open to public inspection.”

“This prohibition applies to a photograph because it provides information relating to the physical condition of a licensee or identification card holder,” the DMV said in a denial letter.

In response, The Times has written a letter to the department requesting that the DMV reconsider its position.

In the letter, The Times argues that the DMV’s “new interpretation” of these statutes is incorrect.

The Times argued that the public has a “strong interest” in the release of the photographs to the media because it helps journalists verify the identity of a person and accurately report information.

For The Times’ Homicide Report database, DMV photos often are used to give a face to the name of the victims and to give the public a visual of who has died violently in the county.

Peter Scheer, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said that it’s “a mistake” for the department to “do a 180” on its policy.

“I don’t see how anyone can say that there’s a privacy interest in these photographs,” he said.

Note: Since its start eight years ago, The Homicide Report has had the goal of a story for every victim. Now we are expanding that goal to include a photo for every victim. So far we've gathered 1,193 victims' photos, just 8.2% of those killed. Help us do better. If you have a photo of a homicide victim to share e-mail it to homicidereport@latimes.com.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @nicolesantacruz and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

A 43-year-old man was charged Monday in the killing of a woman whose body was found behind a wall in a Lomita apartment last year, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Randolph Garbutt, a black man, is scheduled to be arraigned March 1 in L.A. County Superior Court in Torrance.  

Garbutt has been charged with one count of murder with the allegation that he used a hammer to kill Raven Campbell, a 37-year-old woman who was reported missing in June 2009, according to prosecutors.

Campbell died of blunt-force trauma to the head, authorities said.

Campbell’s remains were found last summer after detectives received a tip leading them to an apartment in unincorporated Lomita. In July, authorities searched the home, which was occupied by another family, and found repaired drywall behind the stairs.

Cadaver dogs found human remains, which were later identified as Campbell’s.

In December 2008, Campbell moved into an apartment at the Harbor Hill Housing Project with a high school friend and her boyfriend, sheriff's Lt. Steve Jauch said.

Sometime in the following six months, Garbutt also moved into the apartment, Jauch said.

For six years, Campbell’s disappearance remained a mystery, which was compounded by the fact that her purse was left at the home.

“She had a tic ... and that was not leaving her purse,” Malaikah Manasseh, Campbell’s sister, previously told The Times.

Her sister, she said, always had her purse strapped against her chest.

Garbutt was taken into custody Thursday as he was about to leave a courthouse after he was apprehended on an outstanding traffic warrant, Jauch said.

Garbutt was released on time served in the traffic case, but homicide detectives took him into custody in the slaying case.

According to online Sheriff’s Department records, Garbutt is being held on $1-million bail.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Photo: L.A. County sheriff's Lt. Steve Jauch holds a news conference Feb. 5 to announce the arrest of a suspect in the death of Raven Joy Campbell, whose remains were found in a wall at a Lomita residence. Credit: Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times

-- Times staff writers Veronica Rocha, Sarah Parvini and Nicole Santa Cruz contributed to this report. 

Efrin Murillo, a 28-year-old Latinomale, died Monday, Feb. 8, in Duarte, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. The cause of death is pending.

Autumn Johnson, a 1-year-old girl, was shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the 300 block of North Holly Avenue in Compton, according to authorities.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the child’s mother, Blanche Wandick, was preparing her child a bottle when she heard gunshots. The child was standing in her crib when she was shot in the head.

“That's all. That's all I can say. That's it. I miss my baby, I love my baby, but she is gone,” said the 21-year-old.

Behind her, blood dotted the driveway leading to the yellow garage where Wandick lives with Autumn's father.

Sheriff’s officials said that a gunman got out of a blue Chevrolet Impala, walked toward the home and fired at the garage. The gunman then got back into the car, which was seen heading south on North Holly Avenue.

Authorities are searching for two black men and are looking for witnesses, even if they choose to remain anonymous.

“We’ll take whatever we can get,” Det. Todd Anderson told the Los Angeles Times. 

Investigators are trying to determine what prompted the violence and whether it was related to a gang dispute. They believe Autumn’s father, Darrell Johnson, may have been the target of the attack.

Authorities said that Johnson heard the gunfire and ran to the garage. Inside, he found the baby and Wandick, who was hysterical.

Miguel Contreras said he was home Tuesday night and heard about four shots fired, followed by five more. He and his wife, along with their three children, threw themselves to the ground.

Contreras stepped outside when he heard screaming. He saw Johnson cradling his daughter.

“The baby was full of blood and its head was dangling from his arms,” Contreras said. “He kept saying, 'My baby, my baby.' Everyone started calling the police. It seemed like the whole world was calling 911.”

Deputies took Autumn to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where she was pronounced dead.

Autumn had been a tiny baby, under 5 pounds at birth, family members said, earning her the nickname “Minnie.”

She had just begun to talk and her sweet disposition came with a stubborn streak. She would walk for everyone except her parents.

She was “the center of attention and joy,” said her uncle, Marques Slaughter, 28. “Her smile would make you feel so good inside.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Autumn Johnson, who turned 1 last week, was fatally wounded by gunfire as she stood in her crib in the Compton garage where she lived. Her death on Feb. 9 made her the 411th homicide of a child 5 or younger in Los Angeles County since Jan. 1, 2000.

Many are the victims of abuse or violence in their homes. Others, like Autumn, were innocent bystanders, caught in the crossfire of a confrontation or attack. Here’s a look at who those youngest victims were and how they died.

In a downtown L.A. courtroom, Nerses Arthur Galstyan winced as a prosecutor projected images of four bullet-ridden bodies in a banquet hall.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Chung said Tuesday during opening statements in Galstyan's trial that the 25-year-old had fired at least 50 rounds during a party for a deceased friend. Ballistic evidence showed that 30 bullets were found in the bodies of six people, most of whom had been shot while a gunman was standing over them, Chung said.

“Was this an execution or was he so in fear for his life that he had to get a gun?” Chung asked the jury during his opening statements.

Chung argued that Galstyan, 32, did not fear for his life on April 3, 2010, when he opened fire, killing Hayk Yegnanyan, 25; Sarkis Karadjian, 26; Harut Baburyan, 28; and Vardan Tofalyan, 31. Galstyan was charged April 22, 2010, with four counts of first-degree murder. He also faces two counts of attempted murder and one count of mayhem. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

At the April 2010 gathering, Galstyan and his brother, Sam Galstyan, were with a group of guests remembering Artiom Tashchian, who died the previous year in a car crash. After visiting the gravesite, the mourning party moved to the Hot Spot restaurant in Valley Village for lunch, said Chung.

As the gathering broke up, a group of about 12 people, including the Galstyan brothers, were the only ones remaining, horsing around and singing songs for nearly an hour. Nerses Galstyan then left the room; when he returned he opened fire, Chung said.

The Galstyan brothers left the scene and were arrested in Seattle weeks later. Sam Galstyan was later released; authorities did not have enough evidence to charge him.

Defense attorney Alex Kessel told the jury that the gunfire was in self-defense.

Before the shooting, Kessel said, Yegnanyan felt threatened by Nerses Galstyan. Yegnanyan called friends, Karadjian and Baburyan, who arrived at the restaurant with guns and began to try to intimidate the Galstyan brothers. That led Nerses Galstyan to feel threatened enough to open fire, Kessel argued. Kessel also cast doubt on the accounts of some of the defense’s witnesses. In February 2011, several men had changed their stories, including one man who was being investigated for financial fraud at the time, Kessel said.

“I’m going to try to show you they’re liars,” the defense attorney said. “And I will show that they are still lying.”

The trial resumes Tuesday. If convicted of all counts, Galstyan could face the death penalty.

Contact the Homicide Report. And follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Marquise Lawrence was 7 years old in March 1996 when his father, Kevin, was gunned down in South Los Angeles. Nineteen years later, when his own daughter was 7 months old, Lawrence was shot to death in Compton. 

The 26-year-old El Camino College student was killed March 18, 2015, as he was driving home from work about 5 p.m.

Kevin Lawrence’s killing has never been solved, but investigators and family are hoping that a $10,000 reward will help identify the man responsible for killing Marquise Lawrence, a former football player who was working two jobs while taking classes to become a firefighter. 

The reward, provided by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, was announced Thursday during a news conference that included Lawrence’s now 19-month-old daughter, Jazalyn; her mother, Karen Lee; and members of Lawrence’s family, including his paternal grandmother, Joann Lawrence Haynes, and his paternal uncle Lee Miller. 

“Marquise wanted to be a firefighter so bad,” Haynes said. “He’d go on ride-alongs with firefighters and volunteer to help them. He was just a good person. I’m telling you, if somebody asked him for money, he would give them his last two dollars, even though he needed the money himself. I’d ask him why, and he’d always say, 'Well, he needed it worse than me.'”

Lawrence’s generous nature has made it hard to discover a motive for his shooting, said investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Lawrence was not a gang member and appeared to be well-liked, said Lt. Joe Mendoza.

“We haven’t been able to find anyone who had a beef against him,” Mendoza said. “Was it a random shooting? We really don’t know. That’s why we’re reaching out to the public for help.”

Lawrence was driving home from his job at a Home Depot store in Paramount, heading east on Johnson Street near Willowbrook Avenue, a short distance from his apartment in Compton, when he was shot by someone in a blue SUV heading in the opposite direction, said Sgt. Guillermo Morales. 

Witnesses described the shooter as a black male about 20 to 25 years old, with a heavyset build and an Afro hairstyle about 2 to 3 inches long, investigators said. The suspect was driving a 1990s-era SUV, possibly a Chevrolet Tahoe, and last seen heading north on Acacia Avenue from Johnson Street. 

During the news conference, young Jazalyn romped around the podium as somber family members described Marquise Lawrence's life. 

After his father died, Marquise and his mother moved in with her mother, Dee Henry Lee, who became vice president of human resources at Antelope Valley Community College in Lancaster before her death in 2013.

Lawrence was a football running back at Desert Christian High School in Lancaster and later played football at UC Davis, Orange Coast College and the University of Kansas, family members said. But he came to see football as a dead end, said his girlfriend Karen Lee, and decided to focus on his longtime passion for firefighting.

He completed a wildfire training course at the Antelope Valley Fire Academy and another training course at the Verdugo Fire Academy in Glendale while he was going to college. He also earned a sponsorship from the Stentorians of Los Angeles County, an association that helps young black men become firefighters. 

Lee and Lawrence met through a mutual friend in 2010 and started dating. While he attended El Camino College in Torrance, Lee was working on her master's degree in social work at USC and living with her mother in Monrovia. That's when Jazalyn was born.

Lawrence didn’t have a car at the time, Lee said, but he still made frequent visits. “He’d take three trains at night, just to see his daughter for an hour, and then leave again to go home,” she said. “We were planning to get married before our daughter’s first birthday, after I finished my degree.”

Lee did finish her degree three months after Lawrence was killed, thanks, she said, to the support she received from family, friends and her college professors. “I honestly didn’t know how I was going to take care of our daughter, and handle the grieving while going to school, but my professors were really, really supportive.” 

One of the hardest parts for his family has been trying to comprehend what happened. They hope the reward will flush out information about Lawrence's killer and give them some closure, Lee said after the press conference. “It won’t bring him back,” she said, “but it’s hard knowing [his killer] is running free.”

Haynes, who lives in Long Beach, said she worried about her grandson living in Compton because of the gang activity. “But he’d say, ‘I don’t do anything with those people. I go to work, and I go school, and that’s all I’m doing until I can get out.’” 

She last talked to him the morning he died, unhappy that she hadn’t heard from him in a while. “I said, ‘I love you so much. You have to call me to let me know how you’re doing. There’s just too much going on.’ And he said, ‘I’m all right. I’ve just been studying.’ And that was it. ... I didn't talk to him anymore. He was all I had left from my son, and it hurts. It hurts so bad.”

Anyone with information should call Morales or Det. Steve Blagg at the Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau, (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. 

Top photo: Keith Haynes, with wife Joann Lawrence Haynes, grandmother of homicide victim Marquise Lawrence, at the lectern during a press conference announcing a $10,000 reward for information leading to Lawrence's killer. They were accompanied by Lawrence's 19-month-old daughter Jazalyn, a family friend and, far right, Lawrence's girlfriend and Jazalyn's mother, Karen Lee. Credit: Jeanette Marantos / For The Times. Bottom photo: Marquise Lawrence in 2014. Credit: Family photo

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

David Raymond Ontiveros, a 43-year-old Latinomale, died Tuesday, Feb. 9, after being shot in La Puente, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Ivan Alberto Covarrubias, a 39-year-old Latinomale, died Tuesday, Feb. 9, after being shot in Bell Gardens, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.