Darnay Lafette Scott

Darnay Lafette Scott was 23 years old when he was stabbed to death on Thursday, March 16, 2017, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 600 block of San Julian Street. 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 described him as "a 23-year-old black man" and gave a brief account from detectives. "About 10:45 a.m., Scott was standing in the area when he got into an argument with a person who pulled out a knife and stabbed him, said Los Angeles Police Det. Doug Pierce." He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The attack happened in broad daylight, on a weekday morning, on a crowded block of downtown's Skid Row, which suggests that people may have been nearby when it happened. Detectives released only a partial description of the attacker. According to the Times, "Police believe the suspect was another black man but do not yet have a complete description." The entry did not say what the argument was about, whether the two men knew each other, or which way the attacker went afterward.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Darnay Scott has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no follow-up news story appears to have been published. Searches for his name are crowded with results about a well-known former NFL wide receiver who has the same first and last name, which makes it even harder for anything about this young man's life to surface. He surely had family and friends who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.

The record does not say whether he lived on Skid Row, was staying at one of the area's shelters, or was only passing through. It does not say whether he had any family in Los Angeles or how long he had been in the city.

San Julian Street runs through the heart of Skid Row, a district on the eastern side of downtown Los Angeles that has one of the largest concentrations of unhoused people in the United States. The area is home to missions, shelters, service agencies and single room occupancy hotels, and tents and makeshift shelters often line its sidewalks. Violence there is a constant concern for the people who live on its streets, many of whom have few places to turn for safety.

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 Darnay Lafette Scott could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on San Julian Street on the morning of March 16, 2017, or who knew a 23-year-old man named Darnay Scott, may hold information that could help detectives. In 2017, police asked anyone with information to call Det. Doug Pierce at 996-1879. 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.