Luis Alberto De Paz was 20 years old when he died on Tuesday, July 20, 2010, a day after he was shot in Hyde Park, a neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 71st Street and Victoria Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Criminal Gang Homicide Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that on July 19, police responded to the area after a call of a shooting at about 9:55 a.m., according to an LAPD news release. "Authorities found De Paz in a car with several gunshot wounds," the report said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day. The preliminary coroner's report "also listed blunt head trauma as one of his injuries," which may explain why the death is listed under blunt force.
According to investigators, De Paz was driving a 2005 Dodge Stratus at the intersection when "three Latinos driving a light-colored sedan shot him." The attackers then drove away northbound on Victoria Avenue. Detectives said they believed the shooting was gang-related, and the report noted that "No arrests have been made in connection with the case." Readers were asked to contact LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Dets. John Ferreria or Robert Guzman at 485-1383.
Little else about Luis Alberto De Paz has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for him could be found for this story. Searches for his name mostly turn up other people, including a university administrator in Northern California and people in Latin America, none of whom has any connection to the young man who died in South Los Angeles. He surely had family and friends who remember him, but their memories have not entered the public record.
Hyde Park is a largely residential neighborhood in South Los Angeles, near the Crenshaw corridor and not far from Leimert Park and Inglewood. Its streets are lined mostly with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings. A shooting on a weekday morning, on a residential street, would likely have been heard by neighbors, and some may have seen the light-colored sedan as it drove off on Victoria Avenue.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Luis Alberto De Paz could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near 71st Street and Victoria Avenue on the morning of July 19, 2010, or who has heard talk about who was in the light-colored sedan, may hold the piece that detectives still need. People's loyalties and circumstances change over time, and someone who stayed silent in 2010 may be willing to speak now. 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.
