Carl Betts Remembered as "Cornerstone of his family" as 1,000 Pay Tribute

More than 1,000 people gathered Saturday morning to pay tribute to Carl Sebastian Betts at the Bethel A.M.E. Church on Western Avenue, recalling him as a "cornerstone of his family" and "a friend who was always there when you needed him."

Betts, 51, was shot to death on the night of May 31st on St. Andrews Place and 85th Street by some lost soul who asked him those three notorious words "Where you from?"

The accurate answer to that question from Carl would have been Florence, Arizona, and - if he got particular - to James and Barbara Betts on June 29, 1963. His large family moved to South Los Angeles and he attended La Salle Avenue Elementary, Brette Harte Middle School and Washington and Gardena high schools.

Betts married the love of his life, Jessa Weaver, in 1992 and was a father to eight and a grandfather to nine. 

"Carl was the cornerstone of his family, a man who made other people feel good about themselves," said Kevin "Twin" Orange who had known Betts for nearly 40 years. "He was all about family."

Several of the mourners talked of Betts love of sports and his nearly fanatical love of the Dallas Cowboys. Several men attending the funeral wore Cowboys jerseys.

"Somehow, even if the conversation wasn't about sports, Carl would find a way to bring up the Dallas Cowboys," said one man.  

On his last night on earth, Betts visited his mother Barbara, gave her a gift, told her he loved her, and went out to get some food with two friends. By 10:30, he was dead.,Detectives have surmised Bett's assailants may have thought he was "from" Eight Trey Gangster Crips, the gang that has dominated that Manchester Square neighborhood for decades.

Wednesday around 12:30 p.m.,  an Eight Trey Gangster known as "G Witit" was shot to death by the liquor store on 88th Street and Vermont Avenue. 

And, as Betts was being eulogized, so too was Tavin Price,  the intellectually disabled 19-year-old who was shot to death in front of his mother at the car wash on Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. To read more on Price check here - http://krikorianwrites.com/blog/2015/6/11/4vfs7n6zmv7g036k8lrjivb5x6f20t  

Twin, speaking from the church podium, passionately urged the crowd to get involved with ending the gang violence.

"We should be ashamed of ourselves because we are creating a genocide. We have become expert marksmen on each other, We need to stop this and make our neighborhood a community like we had in the '70s."

After the funeral, on Vermont Avenue and 88th Street, Raymond Lockett slowly shook his head as he spoke of his old friend Betts who had the nickname "Straw Dog". 

"Man, Straw Dog was good people. And they killed him for nothing."  

carl betts was loved by a whole lotta people.

Family Marches For Tavin Price, "Intellectual Disabled" 19-Year-Old Killed in Front of his Mother by "Biggest Coward"

"A man got to have a code" - Omar Little

The adult gang member who shot Tavin Price, had no code. If he did, he wouldn't have shot a 4-foot, 10 inch, 100-pound,  19-year-old intellectually disabled man in front of his mother.  But, this man - now wanted methodically by the police, wanted revengefully by some members from his own set and wanted most passionately by the heartbroken mother - did just that to Price two weeks ago at a car wash on Florence Avenue near Crenshaw Boulevard.

Street sources say the shooter was urged to kill Tavin by another gang member who had lost a fist fight (aka "fade") to a family member of Price's a month or so ago. Using Price's red sneakers as a pretext, the instigator told his accomplice that Price was from a local rival gang, sources said.  The two, said to be affiliated with the Rollin' 60s, demanded the "red Chucks" ( Chuck Taylor Converse tennis shoes) and when the confused Price headed to his mom who was cleaning her car, he was shot at least three times. 

"Mommy, I don't want to die," were his last words.

Tavin's mother, Jennifer Rivers said "The coward who killed my son disrespected every mother in the world."

Condemnation for the attack was universal on the streets, too  Here is a smattering of comments. 

"In front of his moms?!"

"Boy, was like four feet something, Couldn't he go toe-to toe with him? Coward." 

"Why the coward have to shoot him? And in front of his mother? Man, sock him, if you got to, He had to be the biggest coward."

"It's an embarrassment for the Sixties, if he really from Sixties."

"Someone that small and you got to put heat on him? That's some cowardly shit. A fuckin' embarrassment."

Last week, some Rollin' 60s, who the LAPD say have 1,200 members, expressed their sympathies to the family.

"Some of the guys from 60s, they knew Tavin and they said this was a totally senseless killing," said Tavin's sisters Runisha. "Tavin was stylish and walked around he neighborhood, but he wouldn't hurt a flea. Everyone around here knew that."

Sister Runisha thought about the person who killed him. 

"Whoever shot my brother if he was trying to get some brownie points for his gang, instead, he lost his entire soul." 

Meanwhile, the family and friends of Tavin, after hosting a viewing of his body,  marched in his memory down Crenshaw to the site of his killing in front of the Express Car Wash on Florence.

There were about 60 people along the march. There were no so-called national black leaders there. There was no national media. CNN and Wolf Blitzer didn't have 'man on the street" reporters there. There wasn't even any local media there.  The mayor wasn't there. Tavin Price wasn't much in the way of news. Just a short, mentally-handicapped,  young black man gunned down by another black man. 

Everybody, black and white,  gets all up in arms and marches in unity when a cop kills a black man. But, it appears it's okay with everybody - everybody except the family and friends of the victim, everybody except the homicide detectives  - when people kill their own.   

Funeral service for Tavin Price will be held Saturday, June 13 at 1 p..m at Angelus Funeral Home at 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif, 90008.

If anyone would like to help the family with the burial costs, check this site  - http://www.gofundme.com/w3u5ag

Anyone with information on the homicide can call Det. Eric Crosson of LAPD's Crinimal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100.

Brian Loaf McLucas, Creator of The Wall at Nickerson Gardens, Baffled by L.A Times Story

Late Saturday night, a lone Bounty Hunter stood in front of "The Wall" at the Nickerson Gardens gym and eyed an approaching stranger suspiciously. But, when the stranger said he is here of behalf of "Loaf", the tension melted.

"You see that story in the Times about the Wall?"

The Bounty Hunter hadn't..

"Well Loaf did and he kinda baffled why his name wasn't even mentioned."

"Ah, man, " the Bounty Hunter said. "That ain't right. Loaf created this wall right here."

If you created something and the local paper wrote about your creation,  wouldn't you be at least a little baffled if they didn't even mention your name?

That's how Brian "Loaf" McLucas felt  after reading  a May 1  Los Angeles Times article about his creation - "The Wall" at Nickerson Gardens, where the names of dead project residents are displayed. There was no mention of him being the creator of this wall.. 

Big Donny Joubert, a Nickerson Gardens legend, said the omission of McLucas's name was wrong and certainly not because his name didn't come up in any talk of the origin of the Wall. . "Sometimes, reporters don't use all the information they gather. Hell, we all know Loaf and them created the Wall."

McLucas, was born and raised in the Nickerson Gardens. He explains his background. "My father was from the Nickerson Gardens and my grandmother, Miss Ernestine, died in the Nickerson Gardens. My mother moved to the Nickersons in 1959 or 60, not for sure. I was originally raised in apartment 11218 Success Ave., apartment 970, but in the early 1970s our ceiling caved in and we moved to the newly remodeled apartments at 1571 E. 114th St., Apt 822."

In late 1980s, one of Loaf's closest friends, Robert "Crawfdog" Crawford, died. 

"I was standing in front of the gym thinking nobody is gonna remember all the homes who have gone,"  Loaf wrote in an email from Federal prison recently. "I just felt that we had to do something to remember them by,"  

With the help of Harry Weber, a Hollywood advertising man McLucas and Crawford had meet in June 1988, the Saturday morning "Wall Project" began.

Weber met McLucas met at a 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential campaign event. He went on to collaborate on the play "Crossfire", largely written by McLucas. That's where the quote "Nobody can stop this war but us", that anchors the mural was created.

"Every Saturday we'll meet at the front of the gym," recalled McLucas. "The first phase was the cleaning of the wall which in itself is a story."  

"The wall started off for the homies, but how could we just add the few and not add our extended family? Mothers, fathers grand parents, so it was natural to add all our peoples, after the first few names, all names of those that died were put on the wall."

"I have not been there to add many names as the people in our community who have died. That has been done by the brothers who have been left out there i have been in the joint whenever they have added names, I don't know if they have updated the wall consistently when someone dies."

"We pour out our drinks every drink before it touches our lips as a way to pay homage "Gone But Not Forgotten" is the opening lines of the never ending saga of life and death in the Nickerson Gardens.  "Keep The Future Alive" is a goal of all of us, to help the future survive,"

"That is my life's mission. To help those find a way out of the cycle that has cost so many of us our lives".

On part of the mural to the left of the gym doors, is a panel which depicts Loaf standing watch..

That Saturday night, when the stranger was walking away, the Bounty Hunter called out. "Net time you talk to Loaf tell him we miss him out here."

To reach Loaf write to :   Brian McLucas # 60947-097,  FCI Florence  PO BOX 6000
FLORENCE, CO  81226

On the left in the red, Loaf is standing watch.

.

Woman, 27, Arrested as "Accessory" in Killing of Mentally Handicapped Man at Car Wash

A 27-year-old woman from the neighborhood near Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard has been arrested for being an accessory to the murder of Tavin Price, the 19-year-old mentally handicapped man who was shot to death in front of his mother at the local car wash Friday morning over a pair of red tennis shoes.

In addition, Antheyst Jarrett was also charged with two counts of witness intimidation, LAPD Det. Chris Barling said. Two of her male companions are being sought and the detective urged the community to step up and identify the alleged attackers.

Even by brutal Los Angeles street gang standards, this killing has been widely condemned as one of the most cowardly acts ever committed under the now-ancient banner of "colors". 

"Someone that small and you got to put heat on him?" said a man who grew up in the neighborhood.  "You can't go toe-to-toe with a little guy like that? It's an embarrassment."

One of the men demanded Price, who was 4-foot, 9-inches tall,  give up his "red Chucks" - slang for Converse Chuck Taylor All Star tennis shoes - and the other shot him several times as he ran to his mother, Jennifer, who was washing her car at the time.

"Mommy, I don't want to die," Tavin told his mother.

His older sister said "He never left his mama's shoulder. He never left her side."

Residents of the area said Tavin - disabled at age three from a car accident - was well-known and liked, and enjoyed dressing  "stylishly", often wearing his red shoes in the neighborhood which is considered the "turf" of the Rollin' 60s Crips, the infamous gang whose "color" is blue.

Funeral service for Tavin, ( who preferred the name "Tevin") will be held Saturday, June 13 at 1 p..m at Angelus Funeral Home at 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif, 90008,  A Pay Pal account to help with Tavin Price's burial expenses is being set up .

If anyone would like to help the family with the costs of burial, check this site   - http://www.gofundme.com/w3u5ag

Anyone with information of this crime can call Det. Eric Crosson at (323)  786-5100

51-Year-Old Man Shot to Death Sunday Night on St. Andrews and 85th

A lifelong friend of Carl Betts described him as "the cornerstone of his entire family". Today, that family is in shock after learning the 52-year-old anchor of the family was shot to death Sunday night near the car wash. on Manchester Boulevard and St Andrews Place. 

"Carl got along with everybody," said Kevin "Twin" Orange, a respected gang intervention worker who had known Betts since the 7th grade.  "He wasn't a gang banger. He was into sports."

"If you were around him, you better be prepared to talk about the Dallas Cowboys because he worshiped the Dallas Cowboys," said Twin, adding his friend was about six-feet, two-inches, and had a good three-point basketball shot.. "Even if I didn't want to talk about sports, he would make you talk about the Cowboys. Or the Lakers."

Sunday night, apparently someone wanted to talked about gangs with Betts, who grew up in a Hoover Street neighborhood but was never a hard core gang member, even in the 1970s and 1980s.

Police sources speculated that whoever killed Betts may have been looking to shoot a Eight Trey Gangster Crip, whose stronghold is the very neighborhood,  

"Someone asked him those three terrifying words, 'Where you from?', the source said. "They probably thought he was from Eight Trey because of where he was." 

Son Dies in his Mother's Arms After Being Shot at Car Wash on Crenshaw and Florence

"Mommy, I don't want to die" were the last words 19-year-old Tavin Price said after he was shot several times in front of his mother as she was cleaning her car Friday morning at the Express Car Wash on Florence Avenue near Crenshaw Boulevard.

One assailant had ordered him to take his "red Chucks off", referring to the red Chuck Taylor tennis shoes Tavin was wearing. But. Price, seriously injured in a car crash when he was three, was mentally disabled. The only way he knew to react was to run to his mother. 

The pathetic attacker opened fire on Price, who was only 4-feet, 10-inches tall, barely 100 pounds. Price died a short time later. 

Today, June 1st, would have been Tavin's  20th birthday.  Instead of a decorating a birthday cake, Tavin's older sisters were solemnly setting up a memorial - a poster with several photographs, "Happy Birthday" balloons, and dozens of candles - to him on a telephone pole near where he died. (Because he always wanted his name spelled with an "e" rather than an "a", the sisters wrote his name as "Tevin" on the tribute.)

At 6 p.m. tonight, there will be a vigil for him.

Residents of the area said Tavin was well-known and liked, and enjoyed dressing  "stylishly", often wearing his red shoes in the neighborhood which is considered the "turf" of the Rollin' 60s Crips, the infamous gang whose "color" is blue.

"My brother wasn't in a gang, he never hurt anybody, " said one of his sisters.

Even by brutal Los Angeles street gang standards, this killing has been widely condemned as one of the most cowardly acts ever committed under the now-ancient banner of "colors". 

"Someone that small and you got to put heat on him?" said a man who grew up in the neighborhood.  "You can't go toe-to-toe with a little guy like that? It's an embarrassment."

A few Rollin' 60s, who the LAPD say have 1,200 members, expressed their sympathies to the family.

"Some of the guys from 60s, they knew Tavin and they said this was a totally senseless killing," said another of his sisters, Runisha. "Tavin was stylish and walked around he neighborhood, but he wouldn't hurt a flea. Everyone around here knew that."

His older sister said "He almost never left his mama's shoulder. He never left her side."

The sister said Tavin had a summer job last year and had never seen him happier.

"He said 'I don't want to just sit on a couch. I want to get another job. I don't want to be written off as nothing."

As the family got ready for tonight's vigil, sister Runisha thought about the person who killed him. 

"Whoever shot my brother if he was trying to get some brownie points for his gang, instead he lost his entire soul." 

Funeral service for Tavin, ( who preferred the name "Tevin") will be held Saturday, June 13 at 1 p..m at Angelus Funeral Home at 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif, 90008,\

If anyone would like to help the family with the burial costs, check this site  - http://www.gofundme.com/w3u5ag

Anyone with information on the homicide can call Det. Eric Crosson of LAPD's Crinimal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100.

Tavin Price would have been 20 today, June 1st. Instead, his sisters put up a memorial near where he was killed

Man From Swans Neighborhood Gunned Down on 84th and Main Street

Family and friends of Joshua Brown, a "retired" Swans gang member and aspiring rapper, were baffled as to why the 30-year-old man would be anywhere near the Main Street Crip neighborhood where he was killed Sunday night.

"I can't figure out out what he was doing on Main Street," said friend Robert Williams, as he stood Tuesday night on 83rd and San Pedro streets and pointed to K.S. Market across the street. "All i ever saw him doing lately was walk from his mom's house to that store right there,"

Brown, once known as "Top Dog" and "QT", was convicted in 2008 of witness intimidation and threatening someone's life and served time in prison. He was a documented member of the 84 Swans, an infamous Bloods gang. But, his family said he had "retired" from gang banging and was concentrating on becoming a rapper.

Still, his past may have aided in his demise when two black males, according to sources, tried to intimidate him on Main Street near 84th Street.  When the two allegedly told Brown "You don't belong here," he replied, - once again, allegedly and according to sources  -  "I can go wherever I want to".

He was shot several times and transported to California Hospital Medical Center where he died. Police said the two shooters ran west toward Broadway. 

"They slaughtered my nephew like he was an animal," said his aunt, Ruby Brown, as she stood in front of a small duplex where Joshua grew up. "They shot him like he was a dog. We need to stop this black on black crime. These Crip and Blood killings have to stop. They are..."

"For nothing" added Brown's sister Nisha. "The killings are for nothing." 

Nisha numbly showed off a cell phone photo of Joshua, then, after about 20 seconds of silence. burst out laughing. 

Aunt Ruby walked her away then returned, explaining her niece laughter. "She's thinking about the good times with her brother."

"My nephew had left that gang life behind and all he did was work on his music," said aunt Ruby. "He made beautiful music. I wish you could hear his music."

I

The Death of "The Quiet Man", Another Killing in Palms Has The Neighborhood Rattled

Christopher John Paul not only didn't bother anyone, he  hardly ever spoke to anyone.  He rarely even looked at anyone, quietly going about his routine of walking to the 7-Eleven on Overland and Palms then returning to the apartment complex two blocks away where he lived alone. But, residents of this Palms neighborhood knew "the quiet man" and they are dumbfounded why someone would shoot the 33-year-old to death as he stood in a carport off an alley Wednesday afternoon.

"Who would want to kill the quiet man?" said Ismile Nuru, the manager of the 7-Eleven who clutched his heart when he spoke of Paul.  "I never knew his name, but he would come here two, three times a day. Get coffee, orange juice. He never talked and if there was a line, he would stand off to the side and wait for the line to go away.  it's terrible they would kill him."

Police were also baffled by the killing of Paul who was shot at approximately 2:30 p.m.,in the alley just north of  Woodbine Street, two blocks away from Woodbine Park where there was another killing last week.. 

"This guy was a true victim," said Det. Thomas Small of LAPD's West Bureau Homicide. "He didn't do anything to remotely provoke this."

A blue truck was observed leaving the area immediately after the shooting.

Paul's family in Michigan were "completely devastated" by the news of his shooting death. Paul had come to California about seven years ago seeking employment. In his apartment unit on the 3300 block of Mentone Avenue a job application indicated he was available for work Monday to Saturday.

"That's because he didn't want to work on Sundays he went to church," said Small. "The people he wetn to church with said he was a very nice and very quiet man."

The shooting death of Paul was particularly worrisome for Palms residents because last week a series of gang-related shootings left Justin Aquilar, 27, dead and four others wounded. James Pickens, 35, was arrested last Friday in connection with the shootings.

Since 2010 - not counting the two in the last week - there have been three homicides in Palms, according to the L.A. Times Homicide Report. 

"I've been around here since 1968 and it's never been like this around here," said Matthew Domeno, owner of the 7-Eleven franchise on Overland. "This place right here is like a small town corner store."

Not anymore.. 

Anyone with information about either killing is urged to contact West Bureau Homicide detectives Carranza or Small at (210 382-9470

Man Shot to Death Monday Evening on 84th Street and St. Andrews Place

A young black man walking along 84th Street near St. Andrews Place died early Monday evening after he was shot several times by an assailant firing from a passing car.

The man, whose identity was not immediately known, was carrying a bag of snacks and was walking westbound around 7 p.m. on 84th when the car drove along side. The shooter did not get out of the car, authorities said, and the victim collapsed on the street.  

"Someone is waiting for their baby to come home and he ain't coming home," said a woman standing outside the crime scene tape and looking at the familiar white "murder tent" the LAPD had set up to keep the body out of view.  "Where's the protest for him? I mean, I know it just happened, but, I'm telling you,  no one is going to be protesting for this kid."

The neighborhood has for decades been a stronghold of the Eigth Trey Gangster Crips.