Jack Hernandez was 89 years old when he died on Thursday, December 20, 2018, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 210 West 7th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Central area.
He was a Latino man who was nearly 90 years old. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jack Hernandez 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. His name is a common one, and searches turned up only other men who share it.
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. For a man of his age, a homicide ruling can follow many different events. Elderly people on downtown streets are sometimes knocked down during robberies or attacked by strangers, and a push or a blow that causes a fall can lead to fatal head injuries days or even weeks later. The record does not say which, if any, of these happened to him.
West 7th Street in this block runs through downtown's Historic Core, a district of early 20th-century office buildings, banks and department stores, many of them converted into lofts, shops and restaurants during the downtown revival of the 2000s and 2010s. By 2018 the area was busy with new residents, office workers and shoppers, but it also sat a short walk from Skid Row, and unhoused people and long-time residents of downtown's older hotels and apartments shared the same sidewalks. Older residents of the area, many of them living alone on fixed incomes, are among the most vulnerable people downtown.
His death came five days before Christmas, when downtown's streets are crowded with holiday shoppers and visitors. Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides in 2018, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved. The killing of an 89-year-old man in the middle of downtown Los Angeles does not appear to have been reported by any news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jack Hernandez could be found in news archives or public records. Nearly eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew him, lived near him, or saw anything on West 7th Street in the days before December 20, 2018, may hold information that could help. Many businesses on the street have security cameras. 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.
