Habte Keleta was 57 years old when he died on Tuesday, November 24, 2015, five days after he was attacked at work in West Adams. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 2807 Crenshaw Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Criminal Gang Homicide Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a brief account of what happened. Shortly before 9 p.m. on Thursday, November 19, 2015, Keleta was working at a tobacco shop in the 2800 block of Crenshaw Boulevard when a man walked in and began to beat him, LAPD Det. Dave Garrido said. Keleta got a replica handgun, but the attacker took it away from him and continued the beating. The man then took "property" from the area and fled. Garrido would not say what was taken, citing the pending investigation. Keleta was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:50 a.m. on November 24. An early version of the Times report said he had been shot, but the paper later corrected it to say he died of blunt force trauma.
The account suggests that the attack was a robbery, or at least ended in one, and that Keleta tried to defend himself and the shop. The record does not say whether he owned the store or was an employee, whether anyone else was inside, or whether a security camera recorded the attacker. No description of the man was published, and no suspect was ever publicly identified.
Beyond that report, almost nothing about Habte Keleta has entered the public record. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no other news outlet appears to have covered his death. His name is uncommon, and searches for it turn up only a single unrelated professional profile. He surely had family, friends, coworkers and regular customers who remember him, but none of their memories have been published.
West Adams is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, known for its grand early twentieth century homes, its historic churches and its long history as a center of Black life in the city. Crenshaw Boulevard is a major north-south corridor running from the Mid-Wilshire area down through South Los Angeles, lined with small businesses, strip malls, restaurants and shops like the one where Keleta worked. Small neighborhood stores along the boulevard often stay open into the evening and depend on a single clerk at the counter.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Habte Keleta could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who was on Crenshaw Boulevard near the shop on the evening of November 19, 2015, or who later heard someone talk about the robbery or saw property from the store change hands, may hold the detail that solves this case. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. The LA Times listed the Criminal Gang Homicide Division at 786-5110. 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.
