Alfonzo Dominik Goree was 43 years old when he died on Saturday, July 27, 2013, in Inglewood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 560 W. Olive St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an Inglewood Police Department case.
He was a Black man who lived in Inglewood. Two days after his death, the coroner's office identified him publicly. "He was Alfonzo Goree, 43, of Inglewood, said coroner's Investigator Kristy McCracken," Our Weekly reported in a story based on information from City News Service. The paper reported that "Inglewood police were investigating Goree's death as a homicide, a sergeant said today."
The account of how he was found came from Inglewood police Sgt. Nelson Arriaga. According to the report, officers were sent to the residence at 560 West Olive St. at 3:08 p.m. on that Saturday, "regarding a person down that was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding." Arriaga said, "Upon arrival, officers found a male black adult, lying face down on the floor with apparent injuries to his face." Los Angeles County paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The story described the building as a townhome. It did not say whether Alfonzo lived there, who called police, or whether anyone else was inside when officers arrived. Police did not describe a weapon, a motive or a suspect. The fact that he was found indoors, in the middle of a summer afternoon, suggests that whoever hurt him may have been someone he let inside or someone he knew, but that is only an inference, and the police did not say so.
Beyond that brief report, almost nothing about Alfonzo has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. His full name, with its distinctive spelling, appears online only in short listings drawn from the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.
Inglewood is an independent city in the southwestern part of Los Angeles County, bordered by South Los Angeles, Westchester and Hawthorne and lying just east of Los Angeles International Airport. For decades it was known as the home of the Forum, where the Lakers once played, and of the Hollywood Park racetrack. It has long been a working and middle-class city with a large Black community and a growing Latino population, and in the years since 2013 it has changed rapidly with the building of SoFi Stadium on the old racetrack site.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Alfonzo Dominik Goree could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived near West Olive Street in July 2013, who visited the townhome that weekend, or who knew Alfonzo and spoke with him in the days before his death, may hold information that could help. At the time, police asked anyone with information to call the Inglewood Police Department's Homicide Section at 412-5246 or the 24-hour anonymous hotline at 41-CRIME. 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 Inglewood Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
