Lentrail Hicks was 31 years old when he died on Monday, November 9, 2020, two days after he was stabbed in the Florence-Firestone area of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered near the 6700 block of South Compton Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
According to the Sheriff's Department, deputies from the Century Sheriff's Station were called shortly before noon on Saturday, November 7, to a home near 66th Street and Compton Avenue, where they found Hicks with a single stab wound to his abdomen. He was unable to tell them who had hurt him or where. His mother, Paula Stringer told investigators that when he got home he yelled to her to call 911 because he had just been stabbed. Paramedics took him to St.
Francis Medical Center, where he died two days later.
Surveillance video later released by homicide detectives showed Hicks walking on Compton Avenue in a white T-shirt and a cap and getting into an argument with two men. The men walked away, apparently joined by a young boy, but a short time later they came back in a dark gray Toyota Prius, got out and attacked him. They were last seen driving west on 68th Street from Compton Avenue. Detectives described them as men between 18 and 22 years old, in a 2005 to 2009 model Prius, and said they believe the suspects live in the neighborhood and that witnesses may have seen them leave.
On March 24, 2022, detectives and family members held a news conference to announce a $20,000 reward approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at the request of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. "I'm not angry. I'm more hurt than anything," his mother told reporters. "The anger has passed. My son was a loving father, a devoted brother, a loving son. And he did not deserve this."
Hicks graduated from Locke High School, played football at West Los Angeles College and then played defensive back at Tuskegee University in Alabama. He left behind his girlfriend, Keilah Duren, and their 6-year-old daughter. "He didn't deserve this. He was a college grad. He was a great Tuskegee football player. He loved his daughter more than anything in the world," Duren said.
Florence-Firestone is a densely populated unincorporated community just south of the city of Los Angeles, patrolled by the Sheriff's Department rather than the LAPD. Compton Avenue is one of its main north-south streets, lined with small homes, apartments and storefronts.
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 Lentrail Hicks could be found in news archives or public records. More than five years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near 66th Street and Compton Avenue around midday on November 7, 2020, or who recognizes the two men or the gray Prius, may hold the information his family has been waiting for. 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
