Kamryn Stone, an 18-year-old Black man from Los Angeles, was a recent high school graduate with a bright future. He had played football at Culver City High School, where his coach remembered him as fearless, loyal, and passionate. His peers loved to be around him, and he came from a close-knit family. At the time of his death, Stone was taking real estate classes at West Los Angeles College.
On the night of September 14, 2019, Stone was working his first day as a custodian at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Hours after a football game between UCLA and the University of Oklahoma had ended, a fight broke out among workers in a parking lot near Arroyo Boulevard and Seco Street around 11:20 p.m. Acting as a good Samaritan, Stone intervened to try and stop the violence. In the altercation, he was stabbed in the heart. A 51-year-old man was also shot in the arm but survived.
Stone was rushed to a hospital, where he died from his injuries the next day, September 15, 2019.
Pasadena police investigators found that the incident was likely not random. During the course of their investigation, authorities in Los Angeles linked members of a local street gang to Stone's death. The same individuals were also suspected in the February 2020 murder of New York rapper Pop Smoke. This connection helped investigators identify a suspect in the Rose Bowl stabbing.
In September 2020, authorities charged Kyonne Garner of Los Angeles with the murder of Kamryn Stone. At the time the charges were filed, Garner was already in custody in Nevada in connection with a home-invasion robbery case. He was held on over $2 million bail pending extradition to Los Angeles County. Garner later pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
In June 2021, Stone’s parents, Barry F. Stone and Kristie Campbell-Stone, filed a civil lawsuit against the Rose Bowl Operating Company. The suit alleged negligence and negligent hiring, claiming the company failed to properly screen employees of its cleaning contractor, allowing dangerous individuals onto the property. The family also contended that a delay in medical attention contributed to their son’s death. The lawsuit reached a settlement in September 2025, though the terms were not made public.
