A 16-year-old boy was arrested today, suspected of killing an employee apparently trying to intervene in a dispute involving a raffle in front of a shoe store in the Fairfax district.
The boy was arrested on suspicion of murder at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the 8100 block of State Street in South Gate, according to the Los
Angeles Police Department. His name was not released because of his age.
Detectives recovered “extensive video” of the shooting and credited numerous tips from the public with helping make the arrest, the Los Angeles
Times reported, citing information from the LAPD.
LAPD officers responded at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to Melrose and Genesee avenues and found the wounded man lying on the street. The man,
identified by fellow Shoe Palace employees as Jayren Bradford, died at a hospital.
Police later learned there was a dispute “between a group of males and females” at a shoe raffle in front of the store in the 7700 block of Melrose Avenue.
The boy allegedly shot Bradford in the dispute and fled northbound on Genesee Avenue in a silver Toyota Camry with a temporary license plate number
BC10D32, police said.
Fellow employees at the Shoe Palace told Fox11 that Bradford, a clerk, was killed trying to break up a fight outside the store.
At a memorial created outside the store to honor Bradford, Bennett Francois told KTLA5 about his slain friend.
“He was trying to help out … to defuse the situation,” Francois said. “And now, he’s passed away. And the sad thing is, his brother (who’s)
like a twin to him, and his mother, they’re all in Colorado. This was an innocent kid; like, probably a straight-A kid while he was in school. So, now, we don’t know what his whole potential could have been.”
On Wednesday, Keyshawn Williams, described Bradford as a great co-worker.
“He was an outgoing peer who always wanted to make friends so once I got here,“ Williams told Fox 11. “He made me feel welcome like this is somewhere you want to be.”
