Sylvester Darell Barker was 48 years old when he died on Sunday, July 3, 2016, in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds after he was attacked in the 7600 block of Compton Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Century Station area.
The opening line of the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report entry said he was "shot and killed," but the rest of the entry and the coroner's records describe a stabbing. The Times account, based on information from Sheriff's Lt. Joe Mendoza, said Barker was walking home from the store about 7 p.m., heading south on Compton Avenue, when he was approached by two Latino adults.
"It's not known if the men exchanged words, Mendoza said, but witnesses said that the three men began to fight and that Barker was stabbed," the Times reported.
According to Mendoza, the attackers ran away heading west on 76th Street. Barker crossed the street, walked a short distance and collapsed not far from his home. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m., according to coroner's records.
The account is brief, but it holds several details that matter. The attack happened in the early evening of a summer holiday weekend, on a busy street, and there were witnesses who saw the fight. Barker was close to home when he fell, which suggests that he was a familiar face on that stretch of Compton Avenue and that neighbors may have known him.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Sylvester Darell Barker has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no follow-up news report appears to have been published. Searches for his name turn up other men named Sylvester Barker in other states and other eras, none of them connected to this case. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Florence-Firestone is an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles, bordered by the city of Los Angeles on several sides. It is a dense, working-class area of small homes, apartments and corner businesses, and Compton Avenue runs north and south through it. Because the area is unincorporated, the Sheriff's Department, through its Century Station, provides police services there rather than the Los Angeles Police Department.
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 Sylvester Darell Barker could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on Compton Avenue or 76th Street in Florence-Firestone on the evening of July 3, 2016, who saw two men running west on 76th Street, or who knew a 48-year-old man named Sylvester Barker, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
