LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Authorities today announced a $20,000 reward for help in solving the killing of a man who was gunned down in January in a shopping center parking lot in an unincorporated area bordering South Los Angeles.
Reginald Thompson Sr., 33, was shot about 9 p.m. Jan. 11 in the 14400 block of South Vermont Avenue and died at a hospital, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
Thompson was in the parking lot with friends when four suspects got out of a black sedan, and at least two of them opened fire on the group, wounding Thompson and a man who survived, the sheriff's department reported.
Detectives and Thompson's family members held a news conference at the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau on Tuesday morning to seek the public's help in solving the crime.
Sheriff's Lt. Derrick Alfred told reporters that a motive for the shooting was not known.
``So far, what we're able to determine is it seems to be a random act,'' Alfred said. ``Reginald and his friends don't appear to have any kind of gang ties. We weren't able to make that connection at all -- although the suspects' actions do appear to be consistent with gang activity.''
Alfred said the suspects may have mistaken Thompson or his friends for others.
``My son was a father, he was a brother, he was a friend,'' Caren Stephens said a the news conference. ``He was fun, he was loving, and he did not deserve to be tragically struck. ... `This could be anybody standing here, and I don't want to see other mothers suffer the pain and sorrow that I've had to endure with my family,'' Stephens added. ``We are devastated, and if you saw something, please say something.''
The reward was offered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.