Authorities today renewed their call for public help in apprehending the killer of a 14-year-old boy who was shot on his way to a market in the Florence-Firestone area.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has authorized a $10,000 reward for information in the slaying of Otis Rayjon Williams, who was gunned down while walking alone in an alley just south of 98th Street between Central and Pace avenues around 8:40 p.m. July 3.
The driver of a Dodge Challenger stopped at the beginning of the alley and fired 11 to 12 shots at the boy, striking him multiple times. The shooter sped off westbound on 98th Street, then turned north onto South Central Avenue and out of view.
The suspect vehicle is a blue 2015 to 2018 Challenger with a black stripe on the hood between two air vents, a black roof top, rear spoiler and no front plates, sheriff’s Deputy Tina Schrader said.
Otis, an eighth-grader at Dr. Charles R. Drew Gifted/Magnet Middle School, died at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
He had just turned 14 and loved playing basketball and video games, said county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who introduced the reward motion.
Investigators and family members said the boy stayed clear of gangs, and have no idea what could have motivated the killing.
“It used to be you could say, `I don’t do that, I don’t gang bang,’ and they’d leave you alone,” his father, also named Otis Williams, told the Los Angeles Times. “I guess it’s not that way anymore.”
The family, who moved to the neighborhood about a year ago, said Otis grew fast and was tall for a child ready to start high school in the fall.
Detectives believe there are witnesses in the neighborhood who may have seen the shooter or could identify him. They have recovered video of the boy walking in the alley.
His mother said she hopes someone will come forward.
“People talk,” she told the newspaper. “People brag.”
Anyone with information on the shooting was asked to call the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
