The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today to approve a $3.9 million settlement of a federal lawsuit brought by the family of Ryan Twyman, an unarmed 24-year-old Compton man shot to death in his car by sheriff’s deputies in Willowbrook.
On Sunday, June 28, almost a thousand people gathered at Southwest College. Rhythms played by master drummers and chants of “Justice for Ryan,” called the crowd together as libations were poured and prayers were offered. People gathered in t-shirts donning the hashtags, #JusticeForRyanTwyman and #ItCouldHaveBeenMe. There was a huge banner with Ryan’s name and cardboard cutouts of his face. Mike Twyman, Ryan’s uncle, served as opening speaker, reminding people of who Ryan was, “a good father, a son, a special young man.”
The family of an unarmed Black man shot by county sheriffs in Compton joined the Cochran Firm in a press conference June 20, in the wake of a recently released video documenting the incident. 24-year-old Ryan Twyman’s family said that the video made it clear that their loved one was murdered. What’s worse, they said, is the possibility that nothing will be done.