The Death of Gerrik Thomas; Just Another South L.A. Killing?

Los Angeles Times Opinion  Op-Ed February 4, 2016

It was the fourth time in two days last week that a young black person was killed by other blacks in South Los Angeles. It didn't make much of a news splash. Like the 16-year-old girl and 20-year-old man at 81st and Avalon, like the 17-year-old boy at 83rd and Main Street, Gerrik Thomas' shooting death, on Jan. 25, was to everyone other than his family, friends and the homicide detectives, just another L.A. killing.

Why isn't [Gerrik Thomas'] excessive and unnecessary death a story? Why are the community, the hashtag leaders, the media and the politicians mostly silent?-  

Thomas, 21, had gone to the market to buy a soda. As he walked back to his great-grandmother's blue-and-white house eight doors down from the corner of West 54th Street and 9th Avenue, he was hassled — maybe asked, threateningly, “Where you from?” — by two males about his age driving by. He didn't answer; he called his mom. Moments later, according to police, at the corner, in front of the M & J 100% Hand Car Wash, the car stopped. The two guys got out. One grabbed Thomas, and the other shot him in the head. Thomas was pronounced dead at California Hospital.

There will be no protest marches organized in Thomas' memory. No downtown streets will be blocked; the entrances to the Harbor Freeway will remain open. No angry citizens will demand the arrest, trial and conviction of those responsible for his killing.

I get the outrage when a cop kills an unarmed civilian, I get the fury when a video shows what looks like an unnecessary, excessive police shooting. But what I don't get is why Gerrik Thomas' death barely signifies. Why isn't his excessive and unnecessary killing a story? Why are the community, the hashtag leaders, the media and the politicians mostly silent?

Is it that Thomas' death is acceptable? Does it just come with the territory in South Los Angeles?

I've been writing about gang killings in Los Angeles for well over 25 years, and I know these deaths are not acceptable to the families on Grape Street, on Success Avenue, on Brynhurst Avenue. Their pain is as deep as it gets. I know the answer is “no” to the question Reggie Sims, gang interventionist at Jordan Downs, asked about the lack of uproar over the killing of his son several years ago: “Just because he was shot by another black kid, that makes it OK?” I've heard that question from at least 100 different relatives of the slain.

By way of an uproar, I'll tell you a bit about Gerrik Thomas.

If you ask 20 of his friends and family about him, every one will say something about his smile.

Some might describe the tattoo on his right forearm — “Demicha”— his mother's name. Others will talk about how he took the bus to work as a security guard near the airport or at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. About how respectful he was. That he went to Daniel Webster Middle School and Crenshaw High. That he dreamed of being a doctor and was enrolled at Los Angeles Trade Tech to learn nursing. But all of them will bring up his smile.

“Who would do this to him?” asked his friend Shonda Smith, staring at dozens of “murder candles” set on the sidewalk where he was shot. “He wasn't the type of kid to even have the slightest confrontation with anyone. He was a good kid. A nice lovable young man. And that smile of his. His smile would brighten a whole, gloomy day. I can't believe it that he's gone.”

“Even when Gerrik had a rough day, when I could tell something was bothering him, he still had that beautiful smile of his,” said his great-aunt Karon Stinson. She was on the porch of his great-grandmother's house two days after his death. “Granny,” in a wheelchair, agreed about the smile, in her whisper of a voice.

LAPD homicide Det. Christopher Barling, head of the 77th Division squad, said Thomas was not a gang member; he had no record. It is unfortunate that when a killing happens south of the 10 Freeway, it is often assumed the victim was a gang member.

On Thursday, Demicha Lofton-Thomas, Gerrik's mother, posted a statement on Facebook. This is some of it:

“On Monday, January 25, 2016, at 6:30, my biggest fear came to reality. My son Gerrik Thomas was the victim of a violent crime. [He] had just called my phone at 6:24 and said that a dude banged on him. I talked to him for a couple minutes not knowing it would be the last time I'll ever hear [his] voice. At 6:33 I received a call ... I heard all the crying in the background.... I felt it in my heart. My stomach started to hurt. My legs were getting weak like they were going to collapse.”

Anyone with information about Thomas' killing can call the Criminal Gang Homicide Division anonymously: (323) 786-5100. Thomas' family has set up a Go Fund Me account to help with his funeral expenses: www.gofundme.com/long-live-gerrik. If you haven't figured it out for yourself, Gerrik Thomas' life mattered.

Gang Shooting Leaves One Dead At Crenshaw and Vernon

Minutes before midnight Friday, a car with six black male suspects pulled up to another vehicle at Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Avenue. Two shooters exited and fired multiple rounds at a man sitting in what is thought to be his own car.   

The victim, only identified as a male black, was struck several times and pronounced dead at the scene. Before the shots, one of the suspects yelled out the name of a street gang.

Anyone with information on the killing can anonymously call the LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100

Killings Continue in South L.A., 21-year-old gunned down Monday night on 54th Street

A 21-year-old man was gunned down Monday evening, the fourth black youth in three days to be  shot and killed on the streets of South Los Angeles.

The victim, whose name is not known as of now, was standing 54th Street and 9th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood  when two black male suspects exited their vehicle, One suspect grabbed the victim, and then the other shot him once in the head.  The two then fled in an unknown location.

The victim was transported to California Hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

Hyde Park is known as the stronghold of the Rollin' 60s, but it was not immediately known if they were involved in this homicide. But, the location of the shooting, on the northeast sector of Hyde Park, is near a Van Ness Gangster stronghold.

This case is not related to the previous three killings over the weekend which occurred on the eastside of the southside.  On Saturday night, 20-year-old Shujaa Silver aka Badass from Swans and 16-year-old Cy' Jai Bell were shot and killed at 81st and Avalon. 

The next day, in what is thought to be a payback, a 17-year-old male was shot to death at 83rd and Main Street, turf of Main Street Crips.

 Anyone with information can anonymously call LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (213) 786-5100

Homicide Monday Morning on 83rd and Main Street, Possible Payback From Earlier Swans Killing

A 17-year-old black male was shot to death Monday morning on East 83rd Street and Main Street in what street sources are saying is likely a  "payback' for the killing of a Swan and a teenage girl Saturday night.

The youth was shot three times in his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene in a Main Street Crips neighborhood. 

Saturday night, shortly after 8 p.m., four people were shot by a man who exited a SUV and opened fired with an assault weapon near a liquor store at 81st Street and Avalon Boulevard, two of them fatally. The dead were Shujaa Silver II, 20, said to be known as  "Bad Ass" from Swans, a notorious Bloods gang, and 16-year-old Cy' Jai Bell. Two others were wounded and sustained non-life threatening injuries.

No further information is currently available on today's victim.

Anyone with information on the killings can anonymously call LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100.

Swans Graffiti by "Bad Ass", whose tag is on far right.

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Four People Shot, Two Fatally, Saturday Night at 81st and Avalon

A young man and a teenage girl were shot to death and two others wounded by a man who exited a SUV and opened fire with an assault weapon in a gang-related shooting Saturday night a 81st Street and Avalon Boulevard. 

Shortly after 8 p.m., the shots rang out on the corner near liquor store. Shujaa Silver II, aka "Badass", a male black, age 20, was pronounced dead at the scene. Cy' Jai Bell, 16-years-old, was shot in the chest and  transported to California hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Two other black males, both in their 20s, sustained graze wounds to their backs and were transported to Californian and St Francis hospitals in fair but stable condition..

Police said victims and witnesses were being uncooperative and refused to provide any information. Street and police sources suspect a homicide Monday morning on 83rd and Main Street was payback for these killings. 

See for a little more info.    http://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2016/1/25/homicide-monday-morning-on-83rd-and-main-street-possible-payback-from-earlier-swans-killing

Four People Shot, Two Fatally, Saturday Night at 81st and Avalon

Two people were shot to death and two others wounded in a gang-related shooting Saturday night a 81st Street and Avalon Boulevard. 

Shortly after 8 p.m., the shots rang out on the corner near a liquor store. A male black in his 20s was pronounced dead at the scene. A female black in her 20s was shot in the chest and  transported to California hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Two other black males, both in their 20s, sustained graze wounds to their backs and were transported to Californian and St Francis hospitals in fair but stable condition..

Police said victims and witnesses were being uncooperative and refused to provide any information. 

qquor

Appeals Court To Review Vindictive Prosecution Claim by Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson's Lawyers, 3 Murder Charges Could Be Dropped

The California Court of Appeals will review a motion by defense lawyers of Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson that argues their client is a victim of vindictive prosecution, a claim that if ruled in his favor would drop three of the five murder charges against the 89 Family Swan Bloods gang member.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta,  who is presiding over the case, had ruled against the motion in September, but the Court of Appeals agreed to review it, a decision that thrilled Johnson and his attorneys Robert Sanger and Victor Salerno

"This was very, very  good news," said Salerno.  He downplayed  any significance that the prosecution had asked for an extra week last Thursday to present their written case to the appeals court which is now due Dec. 18.  The defense will have an opportunity to respond to the prosecution's argument and the two sides could meet at the Ronald Reagan State Building to present their cases in February.  

According to a piece in the Yale Law Review,  legal "vindictiveness" does not refer to a prosecutor’s ill feeling toward, or even his desire to harm, a defendant. Rather, wrote Doug Lieb, a law clerk for the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, "As defined by the Supreme Court,vindictiveness means that a prosecutor has retaliated against a defendant for the exercise of a legal right, denying his/her due process."  

Johnson spent more than 13 years on death row in San Quentin for the unrelated 1991 double murder of Donald Ray Loggins and Payton Beroit that he and co-defendant Michael "Fat Rat" Allen were found guilty of in 1997. That conviction was overturned in 2011 by the California Supreme Court which ruled that a juror, leaning toward acquittal, was wrongly removed by judge Charles E. Horan.

Johnson and Allen were sent back to the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail for a retrial  As they prepared to retry that 1991 case, the district attorney's office, aided by LAPD detectives,  set out to find additional cases to pin on Johnson.. They were given the luxury of time by the defendant's decision to waive their rights to a speedy trial  and the many subsequent delays in the case  LAPD detectives scoured the California penal system looking for inmates willing to testify against the man who is among the most famous gang members in the city's history.  

In addition to the two men - Payton Beroit and Donald Ray Loggins - shot to death at a car wash in 1991, the district attorney's office now alleges Georgia Denise "Nece" Jones, Albert Sutton and Tyrone Mosley were all killed or ordered killed by Johnson.  While Johnson was in Ironwood State Prison, Jones was shot and killed June 12, 1994 at 87th Place and Wadsworth Avenue in the 89 Family Swan neighborhood. Sutton was also killed in that neighborhood.  Mosley was shot and killed in September 15, 1991 on 97th Street and McKinley Avenue, a 97 East Coast Crips neighborhood.

Johnson, acting as his own lawyer,  was previously tried on the Mosley killing in 1998.. The result was a hung jury, well in his favor. 

If the court grants the vindictive prosecution appeal, Johnson and Allen would still face a trial on the original double murder case.  However, that case was not a ":slam 'dunk" and relied much on the testimony of one Freddie "FM" Jelks, himself a gang member facing prison who was killed many years ago in an unrelated incident on the west side.. 

Earlier in court, Johnson' lawyers sought to have Jelks' recorded testimony kept from being played back in court. Johnson's lead attorney Sanger, even threatened  - or joked  - he would go "Clint Eastwood" on an empty witness stand, a reference to the actor grilling an imaginary President Obama sitting on a chair at the 2012 Republican Convention 

Last year, Johnson told a visitor the extra charges were "bullshit." .    

"It's just more bullshit to keep me locked up, keep a trial going," said Johnson who is back in the regular high power section of the jail, after nearly a year in a special, segregated cell, (not for his own safety).  "They think when I get out, I'm going to go on some rampage. And the police tell people that. Man, I just want to be free. I'm someone who could help stop this violence."

Johnson claims to be a changed man. He told a visitor recently " I am not the same person I was when I went in here. I'm not Big Evil. I'm Cleamon Johnson."

"Have you ever heard of Dr. Bruce Banner?" the visitor asked him, referring to the Hulk's alter ego.

He broke into a gigantic laugh, "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

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Watts Sad, Weary and Tense After Nickerson Gardens and Grape Street Homicides

Two years ago, with his South East  High School Jaguars trailing the Huntington Park High School Spartans by 24 points,  then-14-year-old Elijah Galbreath - pulled groin muscle and all -  led his team to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory with four touchdown runs.

This past Sunday, around 2 p.m.,  on 103rd and Grape Street, across the way from Jordan Downs,  Galbreath had no where to run. He had just walked out of Ronnie's Market and was headed home when a car slammed to a halt and a male with a gun exited. Elijah - hemmed in by a large fence, the car and the gunman - surrendered.   He dropped to his knees and put up his hands. The assailant shot him.

Krystal Galbreath, Elijah's sister, was at home in Jordan Downs when someone pounded on her door moments later..

"They just shot your brother," she was told. Krystal ran across 103rd Street and saw her mortally wounded younger brother.  " I went crazy. I just went crazy."  

Elijah was taken to St. Francis Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. 

Roughly two and half hours earlier, a mile-and-a-half away in Nickerson Gardens, another gunman - maybe two - entered those projects through a gate off Imperial Highway west of Success Avenue, saw a target and opened fire. Shot and killed was a beloved lifelong  Watts resident, Clinton "J B" Givens, 39.  

"I was just walking into my home when I heard shots," said a shell-shocked LaTasha Manley, Givens' woman and the mother of his children. "I looked back outside and, and, and there he was." 

"JB's dream was to make sure me and our kids were all right," Manley said as she showed off family photographs. "He wasn't my boyfriend. He was my man."

The two killings have brought a tension and eerie stillness to Watts not felt since  - almost two years to the day - September, 23, 2013, when for rapper Kevin "Flipside" White, 44,  of the Nickersons and Markice "Chiccen" Brider, 29, of Imperial Courts, were shot and killed within minutes of each other, allegedly by Grape Street Crips.  (For more on that check this link  http://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2013/9/24/watts-tense-after-2-killings-3-arrested-from-grape-st)

As rough as it is, Nickerson Gardens might have the best sense of humor in town.  But, Tuesday afternoon it was unusually somber, a combination of sadness for JB, concern a street gang battle was looming and a resigned awareness that its fiery past could be so easily rekindled.  At the gym, in the office, in the courtyard where JB died, the animation so prevalent in the projects was gone.

"Senseless, senseless, senseless," said Ronald "Kartoon" Antwine in a powerful Facebook post that drew dozens of agreeing comments.

LAPD's South Bureau Commander Phil Tingirides, who as captain of the Southeast Division was instrumental in developing better-than-ever relations between police and the Watts community - sought to squash fast rumors the killings were part of any Nickerson Gardens Bounty Hunters Bloods against Jordan Downs Grape Street Crips conflict. 

"People are scared, but right now it does not look that way," said Tingirides. "We need to hold off. Fortunately, the community is helping out and we are getting a lot of calls." 

Over on 105th Street, the family of Elijah Galbreath gathered and quietly greeted neighbors, friends. and out-of-town relatives who had flown in from other states to be with them. 

"They killed me when they killed my baby," said Elijah's mother Timeca Person. "They are taking out kids away forever."

When told of the earlier killing in Nickerson Gardens, Elijah's aunt who had flown in from Arizona, expressed shock.

"They haven't learned yet," said Vertrice Dooley, who recalled Elijah as respectful, funny, quick to dance and helpful. "Elijah was kind to everybody. If there were younger kids who needed any kind of help, he was happy to help them."

Mileon James, the football coach at Augustus Hawkins High School where Elijah had  transferred, spoke of the teenager's maturity, talent  and goals.

"He wanted to make his mom and dad proud and be able to get them in a better place," said James, "Elijah had this charisma about him. And he was freakishly athletic." 

Moran Galbreath, 43, Elijah's father, sat on a bench near the family home front door and spoke passionately about his son's death and that of so many other black males.

"This has got to stop." said Galbreath, 43, "We are crying and marching over police killing us, but we are annihilating ourselves. We are steadily destroying our own people."

With a distant gaze, Galbreath proudly talked about that game against Huntington Park High when his son "single-handedly brought his team back"  to a stunning victory.  "He was so determined."

Proud dad recalled the time he took Elijah to see his older brother Daylon who is at Langston University in Oklahoma on a scholarship. 

"Elijah got to work out with his brother and the team there and he turned to me and said 'This is me."

On 103rd a few yards from Grape Street, dozens of "murder candles" were lit in that all-too-familiar site of a fast memorial to the street slain. Moran Galbreath shook his head. "Our kids deserve more than this. Our kids don't deserve to be candles on a corner."  

Clinton "JB" Givens and Latasha manley with their children

Watts Sad, Tense and Weary After Nickerson Gardens and Grape Street Killings

Two years ago, with his South East  High School Jaguars trailing the Huntington Park High School Spartans by 24 points,  then-14-year-old Elijah Galbreath - pulled groin muscle and all -  led his team to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory with four touchdown runs.

This past Sunday, around 2 p.m.,  on 103rd and Grape Street, across the way from Jordan Downs,  Galbreath had no where to run. He had just walked out of Ronnie's Market and was headed home when a car slammed to a halt and a male with a gun exited. Elijah - hemmed in by a large fence, the car and the gunman - surrendered.   He dropped to his knees and put up his hands. The assailant shot him.

Krystal Galbreath, Elijah's sister, was at home in Jordan Downs when someone pounded on her door moments later..

"They just shot your brother," she was told. Krystal ran across 103rd Street and saw her mortally wounded younger brother.  " I went crazy. I just went crazy."  

Elijah was taken to St. Francis Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. 

Roughly two and half hours earlier, a mile-and-a-half away in Nickerson Gardens, another gunman - maybe two - entered those projects through a gate off Imperial Highway west of Success Avenue, saw a target and opened fire. Shot and killed was a beloved lifelong  Watts resident, Clinton "J B" Givens, 39.  

"I was just walking into my home when I heard shots," said a shell-shocked LaTasha Manley, Givens' woman and the mother of his children. "I looked back outside and, and, and there he was." 

"JB's dream was to make sure me and our kids were all right," Manley said as she showed off family photographs. "He wasn't my boyfriend. He was my man."

The two killings have brought a tension and eerie stillness to Watts not felt since  - almost two years to the day - September, 23, 2013, when for rapper Kevin "Flipside" White, 44,  of the Nickersons and Markice "Chiccen" Brider, 29, of Imperial Courts, were shot and killed within minutes of each other, allegedly by Grape Street Crips.  (For more on that check this link  http://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2013/9/24/watts-tense-after-2-killings-3-arrested-from-grape-st)

As rough as it is, Nickerson Gardens might have the best sense of humor in town.  But, Tuesday afternoon it was unusually somber, a combination of sadness for JB, concern a street gang battle was looming and a resigned awareness that its fiery past could be so easily rekindled.  At the gym, in the office, in the courtyard where JB died, the animation so prevalent in the projects was gone.

"Senseless, senseless, senseless," said Ronald "Kartoon" Antwine in a powerful Facebook post that drew dozens of agreeing comments.

LAPD's South Bureau Commander Phil Tingirides, who as captain of the Southeast Division was instrumental in developing better-than-ever relations between police and the Watts community - sought to squash fast rumors the killings were part of any Nickerson Gardens Bounty Hunters Bloods against Jordan Downs Grape Street Crips conflict. 

"People are scared, but right now it does not look that way," said Tingirides. "We need to hold off. Fortunately, the community is helping out and we are getting a lot of calls." 

Over on 105th Street, the family of Elijah Galbreath gathered and quietly greeted neighbors, friends. and out-of-town relatives who had flown in from other states to be with them. 

"They killed me when they killed my baby," said Elijah's mother Timeca Person. "They are taking out kids away forever."

When told of the earlier killing in Nickerson Gardens, Elijah's aunt who had flown in from Arizona, expressed shock.

"They haven't learned yet," said Vertrice Dooley, who recalled Elijah as respectful, funny, quick to dance and helpful. "Elijah was kind to everybody. If there were younger kids who needed any kind of help, he was happy to help them."

Mileon James, the football coach at Augustus Hawkins High School where Elijah had  transferred, spoke of the teenager's maturity, talent  and goals.

"He wanted to make his mom and dad proud and be able to get them in a better place," said James, "Elijah had this charisma about him. And he was freakishly athletic." 

Moran Galbreath, 43, Elijah's father, sat on a bench near the family home front door and spoke passionately about his son's death and that of so many other black males.

"This has got to stop." said Galbreath, 43, "We are crying and marching over police killing us, but we are annihilating ourselves. We are steadily destroying our own people."

With a distant gaze, Galbreath proudly talked about that game against Huntington Park High when his son "single-handedly brought his team back"  to a stunning victory.  "He was so determined."

Proud dad recalled the time he took Elijah to see his older brother Daylon who is at Langston University in Oklahoma on a scholarship. 

"Elijah got to work out with his brother and the team there and he turned to me and said 'This is me."

On 103rd a few yards from Grape Street, dozens of "murder candles" were lit in that all-too-familiar site of a fast memorial to the street slain. Moran Galbreath shook his head. "Our kids deserve more than this. Our kids don't deserve to be candles on a corner."  

There was a vigil for Elijah tonight  on 103rd and Grape. There were no television crews. 

Elijah galbreath leans on his grandma

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