Photo: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
MONTEREY PARK (CNS) - Authorities sought public help today to solve the killing of a 14-year-old boy who was gunned down as he walked to a neighborhood market in the Florence-Firestone area in July 2020.
Otis Rayjon Williams was shot at about 8:30 p.m. on July 3, 2020, as he walked alone in an alley near Central Avenue and East 98th Street. He died at a hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported.
``He was only 14 years old when they took his life walking to the store,'' the teen's mother, Francine Brazil, said at a Wednesday morning news conference at the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau's office in Monterey Park.
``Me and my family, we're still mourning,'' Brazil said. ``We just can't stop thinking about him, and missing him. ... He was a good boy, and he was respectful. He respected all his elders, and we just miss him. He was a baby. I have seven kids, he was the baby of the family. ... He was my little buddy, but now he's gone. And I would like to hope the public would help, come forward with any information they have to find my son's killer.''
According to sheriff's Lt. Derrick Alfred, the suspect was driving a blue 2016-18 Dodge Challenger with a dark stripe on the hood and roof.
The driver pulled up, reached out the window and fired several rounds that mortally wounded the teen, then drove away on Central Avenue, Alfred said.
No description was released of the suspect.
A motive for the crime was not known, Alfred said, adding that the boy, who was tall for his age, might have been mistaken for someone else -- possibly an adult -- in the dark alley. A reward of up to $10,000 for help in solving the crime is awaiting approval, Alfred said.
Anyone with information on the crime was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.