Kalvin Damian Sanchez was 23 years old and the father of two young children when he went to a music festival in December 2019 and never came home. He was beaten during the Rolling Loud Los Angeles hip-hop festival at Exposition Park on Saturday, December 14, 2019, and died four days later, on Wednesday, December 18. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of a subdural hematoma and blunt force head trauma, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Kalvin was a young Latino man. His uncle, Marlon Guzman, organized a fundraiser to pay for his funeral and to help his family, writing that his nephew had been "brutally attacked while attending a music festival" and had fought for his life in the hospital. More than 240 people donated. "We were devastated, it's never easy losing somebody," Guzman told CBS2 News. "We're all just trying to keep ourselves strong and being there for each other."
Rolling Loud, one of the largest hip-hop festivals in the world, drew thousands of fans to Banc of California Stadium, the soccer stadium in Exposition Park next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the University of Southern California, for two days of performances that weekend. According to reports at the time, Kalvin was assaulted during the festival and suffered a serious head injury. He was taken to Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center downtown, where he died four days later.
Very little about the attack itself has been made public. News reports said that neither a suspect nor a motive had been identified. It is not known whether he was attacked inside the stadium, in the crowd or outside the gates, whether the fight began over something small, or whether security staff or anyone else intervened. The case was assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide detectives.
Thousands of people were at that festival, and many of them carried phones and recorded what they saw. Large events like Rolling Loud also have security staff, cameras and medical teams. That raises the possibility that someone, somewhere, captured part of the attack on video or saw who was involved, even if they did not realize at the time how serious it was. Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides in 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Kalvin Damian Sanchez could be found in news archives or public records. Nearly seven years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible, and two children have grown up without their father. Anyone who attended Rolling Loud Los Angeles on December 14, 2019, and saw a fight or an injured young man, or who has photos or video from that day, may hold information that could help. 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
