Angelberto Gonsalez Medina was 63 years old when he died on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, in Westmont, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 1031 98th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which polices Westmont through its South Los Angeles Station.
He was a Latino man in his 60s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Angelberto Gonsalez Medina has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was beaten in a fight, attacked by a stranger, assaulted indoors or on the street, or struck by a vehicle, all of which can lead to a finding of blunt force trauma. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The address on 98th Street is a residential block, and the record does not say whether he lived there.
Westmont is a small community of about two square miles, wedged between the city of Los Angeles and Inglewood, just west of the Harbor Freeway. It is made up mostly of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, and its residents are predominantly Black and Latino. Because it is unincorporated, it has no city government or police department of its own; the Sheriff's Department handles its policing. For years, Los Angeles Times analyses of county homicide records found that Westmont and the neighboring area of West Athens had one of the highest homicide rates in Los Angeles County, and residents have long complained that killings there receive little attention.
Homicides rose sharply across Los Angeles County in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, after years of relatively low numbers, and detectives were stretched across a growing caseload. Many of those killings were shootings that drew at least brief coverage on local television. The death of a 63-year-old man from a beating on a residential block in Westmont, two weeks before Christmas, does not appear to have been reported anywhere.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Angelberto Gonsalez Medina could be found in news archives or public records. Nearly six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Neighbors on 98th Street may remember an argument, a disturbance or a police response in early December 2020, and anyone who knew him may hold information that could help detectives. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
