MONROVIA >> Two young people — Brandon Lee, 19, and Sammantha Salas, 16 — killed three days apart. Two families. One common goal.
End the senseless violence, their parents begged the community, calling attention to the multiple killings in 2007 and 2008.
“There’s not much to say, other than stop the violence. You’re hurting innocent kids, you’re hurting innocent people,” Willie Lee Jr. said during a Jan. 31, 2008 press conference on Almond Avenue. “Keep God in your life.”
Overcome with emotion, Lee turned away from the microphone and sobbed on a relative’s shoulder. Sammantha’s mother, Jeanette Chavez told the crowd she hoped the suspects were caught. Lee recovered and joined her in urging anyone with information to call the police.
Both youngsters had been caught in the cross-fire of a gang war between the Duroc Crips, a black gang, and two Latino gangs, Monrovia Nuevo Varrio and Eastside Duarte seven years ago. They were among four people killed in retaliatory gang shootings that occurred in Monrovia, Duarte and the unincorporated county area in 2007 and 2008.
And while detectives arrested suspects in the two homicides the next year, a jury later acquitted a Monrovia gang member of Lee’s murder. His killing is among 29 homicides of black victims in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier area from 2000 through 2010 that remain unsolved. These unsolved cases represent 32 percent of the 89 black people who were killed in the same geographic area in those 11 years.
A total of 1,063 people were slain in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier over that time period, according to law enforcement data analyzed by the Los Angeles News Group. Of those homicides, 383 cases or 36 percent are still unsolved.
Across Los Angeles County, there were 11,244 homicides committed during the 11-year span, with 46 percent — or 4,861 — unsolved, according to an analysis of the data.
Sammantha Salas was visiting her father in the 2500 block of Peck Road, an unincorporated county area near Monrovia, when she was killed Jan. 26, 2008. Lt. Edward Godfrey, who was one of the lead investigators in the case, said the Alhambra teen and two friends were walking to a nearby dairy when two black men opened fire. Sammantha was killed and one of her friends was severely wounded but survived.
“I will never ever forget my daughter’s last words, ‘Call my dad. I don’t want to die,’ ” Chavez recalled.
Salas had no gang ties, according to Godfrey. “Sammantha was just a good kid. She truly was an innocent victim,” he said.
Three days later, deputies and officers searched a home on Sherman Way in Monrovia for clues to the shooting.
On the same day the search was conducted, Lee and a friend pulled into the driveway of his uncle’s home in the 500 block of Almond Avenue in Monrovia.
As Lee got out of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, another car appeared. The passenger in the backseat stepped out and shot the Pasadena City College student in the back.
“Brandon runs. He collapses toward the rear,” said Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Philip Guzman.
The former Duarte High School football player died at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena less than an hour later.
Lee wasn’t a gang member but knew people who were, according to relatives. Det. Guzman thinks the suspects believed Lee had ties to the Duroc Crips.
“I think they saw the car and recognized a car that Brandon was connected to,” Guzman said. “They may have been seeking out Brandon or anybody connected to the Duroc Crips gang.
Community Response
The gang violence led to community meetings and the creation of a special task force comprised of different Sheriff’s department bureaus and the Monrovia Police. It was also part of the reason why Monrovia decided to pursue a gang injunction against Monrovia Nuevo Varrio and Duroc Crips.
Monrovia Police Chief Jim Hunt, who was captain at the time, said the department brought in outside resources to help, which included the California Highway Patrol, the Sheriff’s department and neighboring police agencies.
“Our community was hollering for help because there was a lot of fear in the community,” Hunt said
The task force solved a lot of the cases, he said, including work on Lee’s case.
In 2009, detectives had arrested suspects in the two murders.
Cousins Nickelis Blackwell and Rayshawn Blackwell were accused of fatally shooting Sammantha Salas while Uriel Garcia, an alleged high ranking member of the Monrovia gang with the moniker “Krazy Eyes”, was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Lee murder. Detectives said Garcia wasn’t the shooter.
Wiretaps revealed a possible motive: Garcia, his then girlfriend and their child were shot at in 2006 and he suspected Lee of being involved. Garcia wanted revenge. He also took credit for a 2007 shooting where Lee had been injured.
But on June 24, 2011, a jury acquitted Garcia of murder and one count of attempted murder. As a result, Sheriff’s homicide investigators have classified the case as unsolved.
Two cousins who are Duroc Crips members were convicted of killing Salas. Nickelis Blackwell was sentenced to 160 years to life in prison while Rayshawn Blackwell received 144 years to life.
Whoever shot Lee remains the loose.
Lee’s friend, who drove the Oldsmobile and witnessed the shooting, won’t cooperate, Det. Guzman said.
“We did identify a shooter but we didn’t get cooperation to confirm it,” Guzman said, adding that the witness didn’t want to meet with them to identify the suspect. “He said he doesn’t want to be a witness in court.”
Chavez, who is on the board of Justice for Homicide Victims, said she thought Lee’s murder was solved. She said she kept in touch with Willie Lee Jr. up to Garcia’s preliminary hearing in court.
“I thought all this time there was a conviction. His father must be frustrated. His family must be frustrated. They want justice,” Chavez said.
She hopes someone will come forward to help solve the case.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Philip Guzman at 323-890-5500.
