Domonique Menion Paul was 24 years old when he died on Thursday, June 20, 2019, four days after he was stabbed in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered at 3420 W. Slauson Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department 77th Street Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a fuller account than it does for many deaths. It said that "about 1:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 16, officers responded to a call of a loud party in the area." When officers arrived, the Times reported, "they were directed to an alley behind a shopping center and found Paul with stab wounds." He was taken to a hospital, "where he was pronounced dead on June 20 at 11:25 p.m., according to coroner's records."
The Times also described what detectives believed had happened.
"Investigators believe that a group of people were hanging out in the parking lot of the Marathon Clothing store when Paul got into a verbal dispute with another person. The two went into the alley, and the other person stabbed him." The report said, "Detectives are seeking witnesses," and asked anyone with information to call detectives at 786-5113.
That account suggests that other people were nearby when the argument began, and that some of them may have seen the two men walk into the alley. No description of the other person was released, and no later report could be found saying whether that person was ever identified.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for Domonique Paul could be found for this story. A young man of 24 almost certainly left behind family and friends who remember him, but none of their words have entered the public record.
Hyde Park is a neighborhood of South Los Angeles made up largely of single-family homes, with shops and restaurants along major streets such as Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. The Marathon Clothing store was the business founded by the rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot and killed in the same parking lot on March 31, 2019, less than three months before Domonique Paul was stabbed. In the weeks that followed, the store and its lot became a memorial, and fans and neighbors gathered there day and night. The loud party reported to police may have drawn a crowd to the same corner that night.
Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides a year in 2018 and 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Domonique Menion Paul could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in the parking lot of the shopping center on West Slauson Avenue in the early morning of June 16, 2019, or who saw two men walk into the alley behind it, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Detectives asked tipsters to call 786-5113. 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.
