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South Bureau Homicide (2016)
- 77th is only 12 square miles.
It has over 400 churches, but historically it has the highest homicide rate in the entire city. You're either aligned by circumstances or aligned by choice, but you are aligned based on the neighborhood. You have those friends that you grew up with since elementary school, those four friends are gone. Three of them are dead, and one is in life without possibility of parole in the penitentiary. We all have to be educated regarding this crime called murder. We can't put it into the gang banger, we can't put it into drugs, we can't say it domestic violence, no it needs to stand on it's own. You don't have to add anything additional to it like robbery, or anything like that. It should be murder, and murder should be considered the worst crime of all. - Homicide requires character. It's not just goin' and arrestin' bad guys. This job can be very tough, and can be very painful. The main thing I think that makes us so effective in this part of the city is the bond between the detectives that work homicide, specifically homicide, and the community. - Yes, this is Sal. Sure. Where at? Is the body still at the scene? Okay, I'm just yeah, I'm in bed, so just driving time. Let me get ready. All right, see you guys. I've been touched by probably at least 7,000 homicide investigations, whether they are cases I responded to, cases I handled, cases where I've answered a telephone, cases that have been discussed within my office. So basically I look at it, as a homicide detective, the units I've been assigned to, we've handled a little over 7,000 homicides. When that phone rings, whether it be for myself, or especially the investigators that are handling a particular case, there is that frustrating sense that one murder is one too many. One murder just effects hundreds of lives, whether it be the victim's families, the detective's families, the neighborhood, the community, the news media, the churches, the hospitals, there's so many lives effected with the loss of one person through violent death. So when that gun shot rings out, when that two inches that could have saved a life, or taken a life, happens, there's that frustrating part of, "Wow, we've done so much, and "people still have this violent streak, "or this, why are these two gangs goin' at it, "why is this person goin' out "committing a robbery, and a shooting?" I hate when people say, "He was in the wrong place "at the wrong time. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time." There's no wrong place, and there's no wrong time. Unless you're committing a robbery, and you're in a bank, and you get shot, well guess what, you were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, because you were doin' somethin' bad. You send your child off to school, you don't expect him or her to get caught up in the cross-fire of a shootout. Your husband goes off to work, and is driving home at 1:00, 2:30 in the morning, workin' three jobs, and you don't expect him to get caught up in a robbery gone bad where that person gets shot. They're not in the wrong place, at the wrong time, that's where they're suppose to be. People often ask, myself or other detectives are always asked the question, "What's your most memorable "case, what's the most violent case, what case stands out "with you over the years?" It's difficult, at least for myself to answer, and maybe it's because the many years that I've spent here, the many years that I've seen so much violence in such short periods of time. I've seen everything, decapitations, mutilations, shootings, stabbings, all kind a deaths, all kind a manner a deaths, and it's not really the gruesome ones particularly that stand out, it may be the people involved, maybe the victims, maybe the day, location, or the time of the year. If you put the 80s and 90s in context in Los Angeles, we averaged 1,100 homicides a year in the City of LA. The large portion of those were in south LA. We had a police department that was about 8,000 officers, so we weren't staffed as heavily as we are now. And everything we did was about suppression. Years ago, there's no way I ever would have dealt with the police department. Back then, the police was a little bit more aggressive. Far as, they'll do anything to you they want to. Pull you over, talk shit to you, cuss you out, hit you upside the head, whatever they wanted to do to you. And this is a community under siege with drugs and gangs and murder, and we have the worse police force in our communities, tryin' to kill it. They weren't tryin' to fix it, they weren't tryin' to arrest it, they were tryin' to suppress it by any means necessary. In the 80s we would do what was referred to as an Operation Hammer. A Hammer Task Force. And we were bringin' 2 to 300 extra police officers on a Friday or Saturday night in south LA, tryin' to do somethin' to stop the violence. And they stereotype you real quick. All you gotta do is be walkin' down the street, one or two people, and they gonna pull you over, an run your name, find out where you at and what you're doin'. And if you slip up and say you in a gang, they gonna mark you down on that little card and you'll be labeled a gang member from then on in. It was somewhat effective, but what we didn't see at the time, that suppression model, alienated the community. As a citizen in between the two, there was no place for me. They were gonna do what they were gonna do, whether I liked it or not. And the street was gonna fight back against them, whether I liked it or not. So they were butting heads with each other. We didn't see the long-term impact of that, so when Rodney King happened, we had no support, we had no relationships. He wasn't a member of this nightmare. He wasn't a participant in this nightmare. But they beat him like he was. They beat him like he was a gang member they were tryin' to suppress. And so having lived through all of the 80s and into the 90s and seeing that, now everything I do, is based on my partnership with people in this community. And with those partnerships, we see a reduction in violence, we see a tremendous increase in trust in the police department. And with that increase in trust, the relations get stronger, and stronger, and stronger. It's like anywhere else, it's like a family or anything else, it works. We went from a nightmare, to newness, to the possibility of greater. So are we done, no, no. Last week, pretty amazing week, Glodster, Moore, Butterworth, Cafgan and Turvy arrested a guy on 198 and Main for the murder of a... They coulda been anything else, you coulda been in robbery, you coulda been somethin' else, but to decide that you're gonna be a homicide detective, that takes a lot on. As far as our numbers, our three respective divisions, is down about 19% in murders, so that's real good. Last year was a good year, this year it looks like they might even be better. You don't even have a clue who I am. You don't know my child. But you're willing to take a chance to find out who killed him. Doug. Hey, I just want to think about yesterday to meet with that family in southwest, that was really nice. That lady drove all the way down to Vegas, that murder occurred 17 years ago, and we met with her yesterday, she just wanted to thank them, even though the case isn't even solved, just for the diligence since they've worked on the case. That says a lot. The attributes that are best to have as a homicide investigator is the passion for the job, and the passion for the people. The knowledge will come about crime scene management, about crime scene investigation, interrogation law, writing search warrants, all those things can be taught. What can't be taught is the passion for the job, and the love of the people and the love of the job and why you're doing it. How you doin'? - What you doin' Bull? Actually you said you was on my son's case. - How you all doin' today? Hey, how you doin'? - Come here. - Hey sister, how are you? He worked on, when my son, my son was killed. Murder, ya'll helped me, 'member? Yes, of course. - Today his birthday. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. How ya doin'? So when I look at selecting people for homicide, I'm looking at what's at their core, what's motivating them. They're just passin' through here tryin' to check a box, say, "Hey I worked homicide for a couple years" and move on, although that may work, that's not the ideal homicide investigator. The ideal homicide investigator is someone who looks at it and knows it's a calling. It's something that they wanna do, they're not doing it for any reason or short period of time. This is what is in their DNA. Ya'll work so hard, people don't know, ya'll go home and ya'll take this with ya'll. Ya'll make it personal. And I love ya'll for that. Well thank you. Ya'll work so hard, people never tell ya'll thank you. Oh, thank you. - The victims, we the victims. You're right. - You know, the family. I love ya'll. Thank you. Ya'll keep up the good work here. Okay sister, we'll talk to ya. In some aspects, being a homicide detective here is the same as it is anywhere else in the country. They interview witnesses, they process evidence, and they chase leads. But, the great success that we've had in south LA, in south bureau, has been the fact that we're workin' extraordinarily hard to build relationships in this community that are influenced by gang violence. All these gangs'll have a hood day every once in awhile. Which is like the day they, lands on a certain day of the month that coincides with the number of the street they're on, or whatever the case may be. And 40s had a hood day recently and had a little party, and drink and whatever. And one guy ran through a gun, they got that guy. And then they had about 30 other guys jammed up along this driveway over here, this blue apartment, blue home here. Right down that driveway. So everybody's compliant, we had 'em lined up all the way down the right side of this driveway, and they had three racks a ribs, three or four big racks a ribs on the grill. So like I said, I ain't sittin' around their ribs are gonna burn, so I ended up cookin', I cooked their ribs for awhile. Everybody running their hands through warrants. I took 'em off the grill. They were bein' cooperative, I couldn't see lettin' their ribs burn for nothin'. They offered me some. I said, "Oh come on, all you big guys, "polish all these ribs off in a half a second." What's up guys, what're you eatin' there? Hot cheetos. Where's the soda? You don't need it, not with those hot cheetos? All right. - All right man. - All right, be good. For awhile we were deployed down here for quite a bit. Then they moved us to 77th. So usually we bounce between southeast area and 77th. Every once in awhile they'll send us to the harbor or southwest. Shooting just occurred Broadway and 112th Street, Broadway and 112th Street, 3525... Let's go to that. Hey Mo, you want her gone, is it okay? By the time we as homicide detectives are called out to a homicide scene, we're already chasing. We're at least an hour to two hours behind whoever perpetrated this crime. The horrific part I think comes and goes. As a homicide detective, that's not what I'm focusing on. I'm not focusing on how bloody or how horrible this person was murdered. It's who murdered this person. Who did it, and when and what information do I have. I wanna start that chase now. The horrific part or the emotional part has more I think to do with connections with people. Usually it's somebody in that victim's family, or who's close to the victim, where there's some, there's that empathy connection that's made between a detective and the case. And that empathy connection, as I would describe it, is what drives that detective to try to solve it. Do we solve 'em all, no. But that's what pushes us, and our goal is to solve them all so we can give some kind of answers to that family of what occurred to their loved one. The family members of our victim, rightfully so are staying at their relatives, so that way they could feel safe. The one particular person who may be able to convince the witnesses and other people to come forward, not that they weren't telling us the truth, but if they were holding back certain information because of, they were fearful over retaliation. I can provide the protection, the safety, all right, I could provide the closure. Myra and I could provide all that stuff. Yeah. But I can't and Myra can't, we cannot help your family unless you guys are willing to help yourself. I agree, and that's what I've been tryin' to implement in their mom, she said she'll talk to you guys, it's just, I just wanna... Wait, once this case breaks open, we have to protect you. Yeah, I agree. Right now, we can't do much because there's really no, imminent, they call it imminent threat. In other words, he doesn't know that we're talking, they're not gonna know that we're talking until we start solving the case. And then, once we solve, but that's when I have to. Hoovers, we all know about Hoovers, I lived with them all my life, and I know they ain't no joke. And that's one gang I'm afraid of. But at the same time, it's like let's be realistic here, are we doing this for Oznay, or we not? I will tell you right now, I know the fear is the retaliation of his friends. What he did was, not for the benefit of the gang... No it wasn't. - It was personal. It was personal, so you think the gang is gonna stick up and do certain things that will get themselves into more trouble? And no gang accepts a guy killin' a girl over somethin' stupid, you know, it was an argument, it was... - That was not business. You know, gangs are about business too. I agree. It's about money. I agree. Look, let's identify who this person is, and then Myra and I will do our job to try to remove the family members as much as possible. We have other techniques. The longer we wait... The longer, I know, 48 Hours taught me that. - Thank you. It will be a distant memory, your cousin will be a distant memory. I know. I don't want that, that's not fair. I agree. This family hasn't been back to the house since the night of the incident. Every time she went up and down the stairs, 'cause that's where she held her daughter. I feel really bad. Ah yeah, you know it took everything for me not to cry. You and I are weak like that, you know that? - You feel horrible for 'em. You know, 'cause it's reality, it's not tv, it's not, this is real, real people's lives. This takes a toll. About midnight, got called by the southeast watch commander that we had a homicide here on 95th Street by 95th and Fig. Female, black, was shot and killed as she was walking on the sidewalk. Was probably a group of other individuals out, when a light-colored sedan or SUV drove by, depending on the witness's statement, shot multiple times, she got struck by gunfire. Latorria, L-A-T-O-R-R-I-A. Patrol units respond, paramedics respond, they pronounced her deceased here at the scene, so by the time I get here, the scene's already secured. Had some idea where some pieces of evidence were. Had some fired casings, had some cell phones that probably belonged to our victim, after she got shot. Couple a ice tea cans, and one was still half full. That would indicate there was more people out here. So it's that type a stuff that we're just kinda processing the crime scene. There was a van, obviously, close by. Did you find somethin' else in it? - Yeah, perfectly intact bullet. Oh there it is, right there in the window, yeah. Very nice. I have measurements, if you wanna go off the measurements I have. Okay, and I'm gonna get the light closed. I have the light closed, I have this light closed, and that light closed. Almost like you've done this before. Never done it before in my life, really. First time out here, solid, shew. Mel Hernandez and I will be personally assigned to this case until we leave. I don't plan on leavin', I plan on retiring from this division. In that case, it'd be assigned to me until I retire. We form a bond with that family, and we know the investigation best because we were the first homicide detectives who got a look at the crime scene, who talked to the people who were involved that night, to the community members. So as a result, you have some personal attachment to the homicides that are assigned to you. My only child was murdered, Reginald Lakeith Reese, December the sixth, 1995, in San Pedro. To have your kid leave before you, at the hands of someone else, that they have touched your kid. It's like your brain's suppose to be in a circle but when that happens it leaves a little dent in your brain that will never, ever close. You take this to your grave. You will never, ever get over it. You will do anything, move the world, that havin' them, never bein' able to smell 'em again, never bein' able to kiss, don't hug, you don't get none a that no more. And everybody tell you it's suppose to be okay, that's bull, it don't suppose to be okay. Because a the way it suppose to been okay was you suppose to been left, and they suppose to a been here. This is not right. All these kids bein' murdered, and everybody's tellin' us it's okay. No, uh-uh, parents never get over it. They will take it to their grave. Never, ever. Birthdays, worst. Anniversary dates, that's what we call, when the day they were murdered, it's like a knife in your heart, you can't even pull out if you wanted to. And make it right. It's like, I can't explain it. But you don't want nobody else to ever experience it. Because you don't know if they gonna get through it. A lot a people don't. They lose they mind behind this, we've had parents kill theyself behind it, tryin' to get to they babies. And it's just horrible, it's nothing like this. There's no medication they can give you, 'cause they give you somethin', they gonna put you to sleep. And that ain't gonna solve it, 'cause when you wake up you think, "Where's my child, "where's my kid?" And you look in the room, you grabbin' the clothes, you're asking everybody, so it doesn't work that way. Our spiritual leaders seem, they don't understand it either, 'cause they ask us strange questions, like, "Did your child, was he saved?" Or somethin' like that, like that makes a difference. When it comes to this, it is not about that. This crosses every boundary. It doesn't care what religion, what race, what age, if you were short, you were tall, if you had money, you didn't, this crosses everything. And they need to understand this. There's nothin' worse. Anything else in this world you get a second chance. On this, we don't get nothin'. We never get to see 'em again, we never get to say nothin'. Everybody else gets a second chance, we didn't get it. It's the worst thing, it's so unfair. And we demand it, that those son of bitches that kill our kids, they have to be arrested, charged, and convicted, 'cause this is the worst crime of all. No, there's nothin' worse than murder, there's nothing. No, uh-uh. Give me a minute, please. Hello my name is, could someone please call be back, I'm desperately in need of help. My 16-month-old child was murdered, and I don't know what to do, I'm not getting anywhere with the police, or anything. So someone please call me back, thank you very much. Paul, this is LaWanda with Justice for Murdered Children, I'm returning your call. I am truly sorry to hear about your 16-month-old bein' murdered, my heart and prayers go out to you and your family. We're a non-profit organization that helps families that have had a loved one murdered. Our mission is to assist them, and to reduce the numbers of unsolved homicides. We felt we were left out the criminal justice system. Hi Janet, this is LaWanda, how you doin'? I'm doin' fine. I was calling you because LAPD is doing an unsolved homicide website, so they need for you to give them Tony's picture. Yeah, yeah. Hi LaChrisha, this is LaWanda, how you doin'? I'm doin' fine. Hey William, this is LaWanda, how you doin'? Hey Rose, this is LaWanda, with Justice for Murdered Children. Oh, okay, I'll get the email to you. People usually think once we bury the kids, it should be over. We felt there has to be other steps to this. Especially when we found out the people who killed our kids had not been arrested. That really blew our mind. And so we got together and created this organization called Justice for Murdered Children. And we started meeting other families that had the same situation, unfortunately. All three counts, how can you get a hung jury on all three? Two attempted murders, you, your son, and then the murder of your grandson. I don't see how they can do that when you all were eyewitnesses. Yeah, victims and eyewitnesses to the crime. And I'm telling you, this man shot me, and you sayin' no he didn't. And he didn't shoot my son, and I said he shot me, my son, and my grandson, that one right there. See that says somethin' about our judicial system, I don't know. Where do these juries come from? Because see your grandson, by him bein' a kid, that was a whole totally different thing. There's no way jurors could not feel that. Unless the judge gave an instruction if you can't find him guilty on this one, then you can't find him guilty on the other two. No, that's why you break it up. So it's no instructions like that. Because you can be found guilty on one, and not guilty on another. We always believin' that if we get the eyewitness and everything, then we got you. Now, they get the eyewitness, five eyewitnesses and they still didn't get him. That's crazy. We don't get grants, the only funding we get is through fundraisers that we actually create. If I had committed a murder, and then I decided today I'm not gonna commit murder no more, I'm gonna change my life, and create a gang intervention program, I coulda got funded. But because I'm a victim of this crime called murder, and my family decided that hey, they want those people who committed that crime to be arrested, charged, and convicted, we can't fund that. This murder is a murder from a year ago, and basically what happened was we had our victim, Jeffrey Davis, he's an older male, black, and his associate, a girl by the name of Andrea Fowler, were filling prescriptions of Oxycontin, down in Saddleback Pharmacy, in Mission Viejo, and then they were selling this to Eight Trey gangsters who were subsequently transporting it up to Washington state, and making a huge profit up there. So, while they were there counting the money they just got from this large sale, a male black came up, stuck a gun in the window, in Jeffrey's face, says, "Give me the money," and Jeffrey said, "You're gonna have to kill me for my money," and he grabbed the gun and they fought over the gun. We were able to develop information that Andrea Fowler was a co-conspirator in planning this robbery to get money back from Jeffrey because he had been shorting her on the money. And so she subsequently enlisted the aid of some other individuals to help her give this money back. It was never suppose to be a murder, but when the victim fought back that changed everything. Here at criminal gang homicide division, we have a uniform detail attached to us. SEU, Special Enforcement Unit. They assist us in the enforcement and suppression of gangs, and also to arrest, gather intelligence on certain gangs and violent individuals in our community. At that location we're gonna be looking for any association with Bloodstone Villains. We're lookin' for an unknown caliber revolver, and we're looking for anything that, just the general lives that would show who has ownership there, and also cell phones. Lot a times when we put a case together, we have targets of suspects, and we then are gonna go back and do search warrants of those suspects. We'll utilize those teams to put together the tactical operations, put together the game plan on how to get to a location, make sure it's safe before the homicide detectives then so in there and actually search for physical evidence. This is the Los Angeles Police Department, we have a search warrant for your residence, we need you to exit the front door, and be guided by the direction of officers. Do it now, please. And we don't serve the warrant until everybody is set up. We try and call everybody out. We want it to be as safe as possible for everyone, the police and even the individuals that we're serving the warrant with. I said you just wanna come out with your hands up. knock. I did. How 'bout opening the door. The door's open. Come out with your hands up. Okay, don't shoot. What's goin' on, sir? - Come out. - Hands up, get your hands up, on your head. Turn around. They will go into any house that we go into, and they will search it, primarily for bodies first, we're making sure that anybody who is left inside we will be able to locate. We ask any individuals that came out before them, "Is there anybody else inside?" Just me and my grandma, and my wife, that's it. I don't know what's goin' on. - A lot of times they'll say, "Nope, nobody, it's all clear," and then these officers will go in and make sure that nobody's hiding, or that nobody was left in the back. Get your hands on your fuckin' head and step out a the car. Turn around. We were able to locate an individual that we were indeed looking for, and detectives did want to interview him, they do believe that he had something to do with a crime we're investigating. Hey, get the fuck out a the way. You're here for one of two reasons, either to give information or get information. We will take the information back to our communities so when we're standin' around 30, 50, 100 people, we say wait, this is how the process goes, kick back, relax, and that can ease the community as it relates to what's happening with the loss of life of their loved one. Since we're talkin' about homicides, with respect to gang homicides, I thought this would be a good way to suque into our conversation having, what I consider to be the subject matter of the experts here, the detectives from criminal gang homicide division. - Stinson is our front man. Our detectives need to make these meetings, but Stinson's there, he's there at those meetings. He's our liaison, between us and the community and a lot of the groups that we deal with. It's clearly, they're not catchin' any of these murderers. So, if they aren't catchin' the murderers, so what's goin' on with the money that's not being used to prosecute these people, 'cause they're not bein' arrested. The biggest thing for the community is not knowing when these killers are apprehended. The victims' families wanna see those arrests. We wanna hear about them. Our children need to hear about them. Keep somethin' in mind, just because January first, 2013 arrives, doesn't mean we're not working cases a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. And then take it a step further, a case gets solved, well guess what happens now? Now you're bringing the district attorney's office into, another entity into this case. There's only so many hours in a day, but the fact of the matter is, you get 100% from these guys. We need to get to those, those those voices that you know you are havin' right now, about your kids, and somebody's kids, we need to get to those. 'Cause we don't have them often, and lord knows, payin' their salaries, ya'll need to get to them, right now. You here me, get to them right now, please. How I came involved in the criminal gang homicide division is, there was a situation with me, and perhaps, impacting not only the hearts of the men and women in uniform, but also those in the community. When we talking about what we need to do, is we need to go home and tell our kids to knock it the f-off with all this, gang bangin'. Now it's a lot going on, but this gang bangin' stuff is takin' away a lot a young talented kids. It's been four years now, and they need to start seein' the faces of women like me, 'cause I can't get over it. I get up every day and do what I have to do, but I miss my son every single day. July 18th, 2009, 6:30 on the dot that morning. Knock on the door, and I'm thinking to myself, my son has lost the key again, now I gotta get up and let him in. And I told him, this is your last, this is your third key. Unbeknownst to me, I look out the door, screen door, and there's two detectives with two notebook binders, thick, well I'm a seasoned law enforcement officer, I know what this is. This is not good. They got a job to do, we have a job to do. They got all these murders that's out here and unsolved 'cause people not steppin' up, 'cause they know they stickin' to the codes of the streets. Until that change, they gonna always have a stack a murders, so why are we sittin' here, beatin' around the bush? They can't solve 'em unless the people help 'em. That's right. - Bottom line. When he told me, and said look, "Do you have a son named Amire Brown?" I said, "Yes, I do." "Do you know he was at a party last night?" I says, "No, he's 21, he's entitled to go to a party." I says, "Is there a problem?" He says, "Well, Stinson I hate to tell you, "but your son was shot, and he didn't make it." My life has never been the same. If our kids are bein' murdered for steppin' up and talking, they don't feel protected. So they're caught in a squeeze. My son was dead before he could even testify to what happened. When I see a young black man walkin' down the street, he's afraid, that he's not gonna make it to the corner. This has to stop. My son being clean-shaven, 6-3, weighed 240, ran the 4.4 the 40, football player, very healthy lookin'. Was tying his shoe, and looked up, two young men, gang members, without provocation, the shooter produced the weapon, a handgun, and shot my son three times. I felt like he was so quick to label gangs that, I'm gonna just put it out there, the white aren't in here, in the hood, talking to people. The people that actually work in the community are not from the community. How do you know what we're goin' through? How do you know what we feel, or anything? You guys don't live here. This doesn't happen in a lot of communities. You're not gonna get criminal gang homicide detectives to come and talk in a community meeting like this. When Stinson stands up to a group of people, and when he can tell, and share that commonality of, "I've suffered a loss, my child was gunned down, "gang violence, in the same neighborhood." When he throws that down on the table, people really listen to him. They know he's not just some cop up there, feedin' 'em some bullshit. When my son was murdered, these are the men that helped apprehend the suspect, and the person's serving prison time now. So, they have a very dear place in my heart. It was not real to me until, on the table, covered up with a white cloth, I remember touchin' my son from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, and feeling his cold body the stiffness that had set in, and realized that the life that I had known, that I was responsible for procreating into this earth, now had moved on. And, as a parent, nothing will leave you as helpless, and as meek and broken, as that moment. As you all know, my son Jerrell was murdered, and the detective right here, Rick Gordon, he was the one who worked with that case, and brought it to where the guy was convicted. 75 years to life... he stayed in touch with our family, and then I stayed in touch with them as well. I didn't sit back and wait. For three years I had to go to court, and when it got turned over to the DA's office, what they talk about, the murder book looks like, is this fat. If I could add somethin' on that, it was so important for you to be there every day in trial, because the jury has to see the family, they gotta see that somebody cares. And that is so critical. When it came down to workin' criminal gang homicide division, when it came to bein' a gang intervention liaison, when it was posed to me, it took me a year. To answer that call. I had to turn down the volume of life, to hear the whisper of God. And when i heard that whisper, I knew that this is where I needed to be for the remaining of my years on this department. This is where I needed to put my best practices, because forgiveness is a process, it doesn't happen over night. Healing is a process, it doesn't happen overnight. Many of us have lost somebody close to us, and for me personally it's not about the badge and uniform at the end of the day. When I sit at that table it's about sharing, and understanding that we all have been hurt, some of us still hurt more than others, but if we could say something to one another, to encourage one another, to say hey, you know what, all hope is not lost, we don't have to go through life being bitter. Forgiveness is powerful, unconditional love is powerful. The violent crime, it stops with us. We thank you oh God for the information, and the beautiful dialogue that took place this evening. We thank you for every heart, mind, and spirit that has been present. We thank you oh God for those who have traveled so far to be with us this evening. We pray oh God that as we separate ourselves to go to our separate homes, we leave each other physically but not spiritually. We pray oh God that the families that we return to shall be whole, they shall be at peace. We pray this in your name, oh God, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Okay, we need you to put up the chairs, but not the tables. You gonna put 'em up then. No, I ain't puttin' up nothing. As a matter a fact, I'll see you later everybody 'cause I gotta, I'm gonna have. I was on the phone actually, when I first heard the shot. I said please, my mom, my son, and his girlfriend has been shot. I sat the phone down, and then I'm thinkin', I gotta set it down to where nobody'll bump it or hit it, 'cause that have to hear what's goin' on, 'cause I was by myself. She laid down, I could see her, I was like, "Crystal, sweetie are you okay?" After I came from my mom, to it, then I went to go see about my son. 'cause I heard him coughing. Then, as he was coughing I had turned away and he spit up blood. He was hit in the, I knew it was somewhere in the upper body. And I said, "Son," he was grabbin' at his neck, so I immediately just started choking him, I think I choked him. And I was like, "Son, oh my gosh, we gotta get you "to the hospital." And when I ran out to the street, I was like, "Help, please, somebody, help me, help me. "My mom, my son, his girlfriend, somebody." And I seen the fire department come, and he parked, he stopped right there, and there. I just needed help, my mom was dyin'. Crystal was dyin', I needed to help my son he was, they were dying. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. The ambulance passed by me, he passed by me, and I looked, and I'm goin', "Right here, "come on, jump the island, I'm think, I'm like, "get right here." They didn't come. He yelled at me, he yelled at me, he was like, "We can't do anything until we get." And I was where I could see a group of police down here already. What makes you think that it wasn't clear. They're walkin' around my mom, and my son, and his girlfriend, and they're dying. They didn't get no help. Amen. - Let us all pray. Lord God, we come before you, just once again, asking you God to strengthen the family. Lord, I ask, that you open up the kingdom of heaven for the grandmother, for the young girl. I ask God that you give the son a speedy recovery. Lord, I ask that you continue to hold on to this community. All the resources that we have, that we need. We ask God that you touch the community, touch these politicians, touch the congressmen, touch everybody lettin' 'em know that we need more help here. We need help here, Lord. All the funding that's goin' around, that's given out to other places in the world, we need it right here in Englewood. We need it right here in Compton. We need it right here in LA. We need it right here in Watts. Let 'em hear us, God. We need resources oh God, so we can put this, just a stop onto this nonsense. I ask God in the name of Jesus, we rebuke that demon in the name of Jesus. We rebuke him in the name of Jesus. I ask that you clear this neighborhood God, with all this evilness. Lord with all the programs goin' on, all the interventionists that's doin' the work, I ask God that you continue to give them the resources that we need to continue to better the families. You said raise up a child in the way that they should be, and when they grow old, they will not depart. So we need to take our communities back. But we need, oh God, your help to get it to the people that can change some things. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray to you and only you. Let everyone that hears the sound of my voice say, "Thank God." Thank God. - And amen. Amen. We need to change some policies, I know that. We need some policy changes, in this case. - In 2009, things were so troubling. Cameras at that time, were coming out and finding that hysterical mother, that hysterical wife, that hysterical girlfriend, and putting that camera in her face. And they were askin', "Well how do you feel?" That's such a stupid question. I'm just gonna use a plain word for it. I'm not trying to be political correct. It was a stupid question. So when the media stopped coming to the vigils and the murders, turned their backs on us, and just didn't care anymore, and it was so obvious. A higher power stepped in and told me to take it to the air. And I thought, I can't do that. I don't know anything about radio. And I just found myself over there in that office one Monday, asking for a time slot, and paying them for that 30 minutes that turned into Gang Talk Radio. The opinions expressed on the following program are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the views of KTYM radio, its staff, management, or clients. - Well, hello, hello, hello. God bless you community family, and welcome to Gang Talk with Sister Herron and Skip Townsend. I took on that name because I had a passion for homicide. I didn't go with any dedicated plan, I kinda backed into it. And backed into it because there was a need. There was no voice, no voice out here speaking to this and I didn't really go with an objective, other than to discuss this horror. I asked you here for a very specific purpose, that was, to share your, a little bit about your history and how it brought you to where you are now. The best gift in the show is to hear those wide-range of voices, not just mine. Hear the men, hear the women, hear the kids, hear the public leadership. One day at school, I remember the school being shut down. Somebody said, "The Crips are coming, the Crips are coming." And so, I'm thinkin', who are the Crips? Who has this much power to shut down a school? I kinda took a pledge right then, within myself to say, whatever has that amount of power, I wanted in, I wanted in on that power. I wanted to be a part a that. - What was the pull, did you wanna belong to that fellowship of men? Was it glamorized, was it a safety net, was it just a sense of belonging? To see, young men, walkin', marchin' together, hangin' out together, that solidarity that they had, it gave them a status in the community. So I wanted to be a part a that. That was the mission statement a Gang Talk, originally, was to dialogue about this, try to get more people engaged to wake up, become sensitive to it, don't treat it like it's somebody else's problem, it's right in your neighborhood. So it evolved that way. You know, listenin' to Ben, I was more infatuated as well as in fear of the power that I seen these guys had had. As I walked to and from school, and to protect my little brother and my sister, I had to be a part a somethin', because I didn't have the strength. So at that time, I joined the community gang. And, from there on out, my life has kinda like been really... You don't have to explain it, - Thank you. Because we've all kind of lived it. We've all been in this nightmare together, from these beginnings that seemed so innocent, to what brings us here today. What is my role? Is to be a participant in the recovery. That's my role, and to encourage others to be engaged in a recovery, and to be aware that a recovery is necessary. So that's my role. What got you here, Bishop? Thank you, one incident that really changed my life is, I got into an altercation with some little young guys, shot at me, and did not hit me. Turned around, it was bullet holes all in of my grill and tire went flat. And I was not hit, but I went to go and grab a weapon to retaliate. And when I went to go grab this weapon, it always brings tears to my eyes 'cause it's so true, 'cause I know how, a lot a times people give testimonies, they testimony turns into a brag, but I just have to brag on how Jesus helped me this day, because when I went to go get this weapon to retaliate, it was a Bible where I usually would keep a pistol. And that was a Saturday night, and the next day, I mean God spoke to me right then, said you don't get no more chances. Everybody, you don't get no more chances. That next day I went and got baptized by Dr. Garon Harden, at Long Beach Greater Open Door. And I was so wicked I got double-dipped, I got double-dipped. - I'm a community partner. I'm a stakeholder in my neighborhood. I'm the neighbor, I'm the next door neighbor, I'm not the leader. I'm the next door neighbor. I'm the mother that raised my children under this threat. I'm the neighbor that's got bullet holes in my house too. They've shot up my neighborhood, I'm not unique. I'm just somebody, that has a big enough mouth, that thought it was worth investing my passion in this, and everything else has come about because of that. If I wasn't engaged, I wouldn't be on the radio. I played Russian Roulette with my life, ever since 1977 when I joined the gang. I've been in and out of prison, in and out of institutions. I've been addicted to gang bangin', I've been addicted to drugs, I've been addicted to everything negative. Today, I'm tryin' something positive. I believe in this second chance and I'm tryin' somethin' positive. When I walked into the church of Cease Fire meeting, and the people they accepted me. It was a blessing for me, and it brought tears to my eyes knowin' that the mothers and fathers that was there that have lost a loved one to gang violent, and their child wasn't even a part of a gang, I felt that I was a part of their loss, because there's no good thing about a gang. There's two ways out, death or imprisonment, unless you open your eyes and realize that, take all opportunities to turn over a new leaf. - If I wasn't with these folks, I wouldn't have a radio show called Gang Talk. You see, they've all kinda come together out of that need for this healing that has come about. So, my job is just the mouthpiece. Really. We have to embrace you. How are we gonna close the door to our family, that's who you are. You're a member of my family, you're a member of my community. If I close the door to you, you're gonna stay angry. You're never gonna get a chance to know what it is to be redeemed. And as believers, we're suppose to practice redemption, aren't we? That's right, yeah, that's right. - Okay, that includes you. Especially anybody looking for it, huh Bishop? That's right, I mean I was the chief a sinners, but God said I did in ignorance and unbelief, so I didn't know no better, but now I know better, I do better. And you're teaching, you're teaching and sharing. I haven't lost my passion for it because my message hasn't changed. And my message is, how do we save our kids from killing themselves? Do you wanna live, yes or no? And they have to answer me. And that's the hard question to ask these young men now. Do you wanna live, yes or no? And you'd be surprised at the answer you'll get. That's the sad thing, you'll be surprised by the answers you'll get. I got a call early Sunday morning regarding a double homicide possibly related to a traffic accident, in the area of 50th Street and Figuro in the city of Los Angeles. It was a early Sunday morning, it was a beautiful California day. There's a church right up the street with a lot a cars. It's unusual for a double homicide to occur like that. Can we hold just to this block, in the house? Are you guys good with that? We can close at 4-9 Place, and 5-1, - Right. Still keep this tape, still keep Flower taped, Flower's open. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, take your units. When I got there, it was obviously a tactical situation. Does this other female have a freakin' cell phone, call her, hey, give her an opportunity, "You got a key to that place? "If not, we're gonna kick in the door." Give her that option, but hey, we're not gonna play here. The uniform personnel like our SEU, and our patrol units render a certain location safe. Meaning they clear it, or get the people out of it, be sure it's safe so I can do my job. We got containment, we got set up, made it all the way out, because we have to because we cannot put these detectives down-range and start conducting investigations until we are sure that no one else is in that house. Well, the one guy, he set up his camera right away, 'cause he knew that he was gonna be pushed back. And he started filmin' and I said, "Okay, look, you gotta do me a favor, you can't show the license plates." I said, "We, this thing may still be in play." The media tries to find out, to give to the public, obviously is it gang related? Was this random? A personal killing, that type of thing. And we give them what we know. And if we're not sure, we usually don't give it. Because we don't wanna give out mis-information to the public. So you see the two cars behind us here. Those individuals were some how or other involved in some form of road rage last night. They ended up here, at which point our suspects walked up one them carrying a shotgun. He basically asked, what set you're from, basically asking what gang you're from. The homicides we usually investigate are usually senseless, of no reason. He'd mistaken these two innocent individuals as gang members. And he shot 'em close range with a shotgun. - About half a block down, the family noticed some blood down there, on the street. So we wanna swab that, right. Keep somethin' in mind, all this brain matter, and all this stuff out here, the coroner's got it, okay? So, we'll photograph it, but they'll collect all that stuff. The first thing you need to do, is you need to call SID print check, see if there's room down there for these cars too. - Okay I'll do that right now. So SID for electronics, and then the print check to make sure there's room. - Right. Okay. In 1995, my only child Reginald was murdered in San Pedro. As of today, his case is still unsolved. It has been my dream for years to have an unsolved homicides summit, after meeting so many of you families who cases were unsolved. This summit will focus on the challenges and solutions surrounding unsolved homicides. LaWanda got involved with the families, she shared the grief, she lost a child to homicide. So she was able to share her grief with other folks, and that over the years has really grown. And so then I have this little woman, who come knocking on my door one day, "My name is LaWanda Hawkins." She changed my life. She's the veteran, she's the OG that really started a lot of what we see. There's a period of time when, in law enforcement, and on the news beat or on TV, where we called cases "cold cases." But when you really got to thinkin' about it, that was a term that never should've been used. And LaWanda was somebody who reminded me of that. - Who I feel I'm serving is the family of the victim. To bring them some sense of justice. But, by doing that, you also serve the community because you've taken a murderer off the street. - I'm a ticked off old lady about what's happened in my family. And I know all of you are too. First of all, I am the sister of Nicky Thompson, who was murdered, along with his wife, Trudy. And it took us 18 years to get to trial. Before Nick and Trudy were murdered, our only son, Scott, was also murdered. He was murdered by somebody that was out on bail for killing somebody else. And I was told at the recent parole hearing, "Mrs. Campbell, it no longer matters about what this man "did, it's whether he's been good in prison." Even though he premeditated our son's murder, strangled him, bloodied him up, threw him out of an airplane so the sharks would eat him. No parent ever expects to bury their own child. No parent. I wasn't prepared. Everything I had lived for at that juncture, up to that point, was to leave him in a better state than I was left in. But it didn't happen that way. I always view murder victims as lost souls. And there are a lot of loss souls that always are circling in my mind. And it's a struggle that I deal with, but it's a struggle that's a good one in some respects 'cause we can, then it keeps me focused on pushing forward. We bond with a lot of the families of victims because we end up going through a very traumatic event with that family. And it's very difficult not to form a bond, being there, notifying a family of a loved one's death, and then taking and investigating that murder and to try to bring some closure to that family. It's hard to avoid a bond being created. I am troubled If not distressed Perplexed but Not in despair I'm a vessel Full of power With a treasure Hidden in me I started in the prison ministry. I went to school to Long Beach Bible College. I earned my Associate's Degree in Biblical Studies. They had a program there to go down to East Lake Central Jail. I was one a the first ones to sign up. When I signed up, I was going down and ministering to the young gang bangers. I actually had to take off my suit and tie, and show them my tattoos, let 'em know, look, ya'll got the wrong person. I didn't grow up in church. This is me, this is where I came from, and I'm tryin' to help you. And for the Christian there is no greater joy than to be in the presence of one that loves like no one else can love. So today I'm not, letting you know, that I'm not going to eulogize a funeral but eulogize a home-going celebration. One gang member, I'll never forget, he was the one that had tattoos all over his face, all over his face, and in the group he was the tough guy. But when it was after, when we had after-chapel, he was one of the ones that I was able, he had called me over in the corner, and I was able to pray with him, and as I prayed with him, he just started crying. And after that, it touched me, where I knew that was my calling. It's not a day of regret, but a day of rejoicing. Today we come to remember the life of Dora, and reminisce over all the special moments that you had with her. Leading the Crips to Christ, leading the Bangers to the Bible, leading the Harlots to holiness, those are the people that I can minister to. To get them closer to God, to let them know that they could do somethin' different than what they're doin'. You know sometimes God will take people and bring them with him to bring others closer to him. I'll say it again, sometimes God will take people to be with him, to bring others closer to him. On last Friday, this church was full of gang members. Out of, let's just say 50 people that was here, at a funeral, that was a Friday, the following Sunday, only one came. But he came to give his life to the Lord. I felt so good, I, job well done. And it only took one. But it's, as it go, more'll come. My thing is, I teach one and save one, and I done my job. Come on let's give the Lord a hand a praise. That's all it takes, that's all it takes. This home-going celebration for Miss Dora. As Shanita said, they used to call her Doe-Doe. I really need you guys to know, that she's in a better place. To the young men and the young women, don't get caught up in the foolishness out here in the streets. I lost my brother, he died, he got killed and died in my arms. There's so many things that I went through, so many things that my family went through. I didn't grow up in church, neither did my family. But when God saved me, I went back and got my family and baptized my mama, my aunties and my little cousins. But now as a family, you guys gotta come together spiritually and help each other out. - Yes, this is Sal. Sure. Where at? Is the body still at the scene? Okay, just driving time, let me get ready. All right, see you guys. For a number of years here during the Christmas season, we've done a Christmas tree, a tree decorating, we've invited victims' families, who've lost loved ones through homicide. This individual right here is my son, Brandon Vashon Blanton. And I gotta say his whole name, because he was more than just a statistic. The thing that I struggle with, is I don't remember his voice. What it is, it's a place for them to begin to heal. This person who took my son's life, has not been found. And I just pray, because I have cancer. I just really wish that I live long enough to where closure can be brought. So could you please help us, please. Thank you. Radio call, shooting, right here in the alley. Primary unit shows up, they're driving southbound they get run into the alley. And the witnesses drive into the alley, see the taillights of the car, they're not sure if it's a suspect or victim, they don't know. Eventually they approach the car, find two people shot inside the car. So there's casings and one flips out a the car. RA respond, both of them not responding and pronounced dead at the scene. And I hear in the background, "Oh my God, Oh my God, "this man has been shot, this man has been shot." And as I hear that, I see the paramedics, I see the fire truck, and I see the police, all go by me. And in the phone, I'm hearing the same thing but I'm lookin' and I'm seein' it. I get out the car, I start runnin' down the street, as I'm runnin' down the street, they're putting a blanket over this guy. I call him on his cell phone and ask, I'm standin' there, I see that phone, his phone is lightin' up under the blankets. It's really tough to sit through and listen to the stories. It's really difficult to see the children, but there's a certain connection, especially with the kids. You're the person, the detectives are the folks, that helped catch the bad guy, that hurt my daddy, hurt my mom, or shot my brother. - The guy did get caught. He got 120 years. But to me, I still don't have no closure, because tomorrow, at my son's Christmas party, when he look out in the audience, his dad is not there. Because someone played God and shot him in the back of his head, because of an argument. It's a place like this, I can come to and I can express myself without anybody trying to judge me. 'Cause when I try to tell somebody else, "Aw you gettin' over it, you gettin' over it." I said, "What do you mean get over it, why? He was shot in front of his home, because his daughter was having a argument with some little thugs. And as being the protector as he was, he went outside to see what was goin' on. And as a result of that, he lost his life. There's that frustrating part of, "Wow, we've done so much," and people still have this violent streak. - And I miss him very much. At the beginning it was very hard for me. I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know what to do with my children, how I was gonna do things. And I did what everybody does. Ask God, he's the only one. He's the only one that's gonna help us. So I decided to raise up, get up, and keep on living. It's different for us grown-ups. You know we understand, it's a little more deep. But for the kids, to see 'em smile, to be able to give them somethin', just on that day. And not to be reminded that they're comin' to the police station for somethin' bad, or some bad news. That they're here for somethin' good. So I just wanna go ahead right now and say thank you to each one of you for all the work that you do. Perhaps the money doesn't come, but you guys have the best rewards, and that's people like us being grateful that you're here. And I just want you guys, as you guys go home, think about all the blessings that we do have. And even though we don't have our loved ones next to us, but just their memories. Are their memories gonna keep them alive? They're dead until we use those memories, and we don't wanna do that. One murder just effects hundreds of lives. Whether it be the victim's families, the detective's families, the neighborhood, the community, the news media, the churches, the hospitals. There's so many lives effected with the loss of one person through violent death. |
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