Roshon Dwayne Davis was 26 years old when he died on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, a day after he was stabbed in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of a stab wound at South La Brea Avenue and Coliseum Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Criminal Gang Homicide Division case.
The attack happened in broad daylight on Wednesday, Jan. 29. According to the LAPD, at about 2:45 p.m. he "was standing near the bus stop" at La Brea Avenue and Coliseum Street when he "was approached by an unknown male and brutally stabbed." LAPD Detective Chris Barling told the Los Angeles Times that he was stabbed "after an altercation with a person at a gas station," and Roshon himself told an officer that he had been attacked at the gas station at that intersection.
Wounded, he ran toward home.
He reached the alley behind his apartment building on Gibraltar Avenue and called out for help. His wife heard him, and so did an on-duty LAPD sergeant who happened to be on patrol. The sergeant found that he had been stabbed, and paramedics took him to a hospital. He died at noon the next day. An autopsy showed that he died of a stab wound to the chest.
Roshon was a husband and the father of four young daughters. "They give me the strength to move forward," his wife told CBS Los Angeles. "Just for them, and I live for them. That's my life now." His mother described her grief in the same report: "I can't deal with it that he's gone. And it's hard for me to even sleep, I don't really eat."
In February 2014, LAPD detectives and his family held a news conference at the 77th Street station to ask for help, and released surveillance video of Roshon taken shortly before the attack. Detectives said they had been unable to find any witnesses. In July 2014, the City of Los Angeles announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identity, arrest and prosecution of whoever killed him. "I just want someone to help find the person who did this to him so I can have peace of mind," his mother, Gwendolyn Porchia, told NBC Los Angeles.
The Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area is one of the historic centers of Black Los Angeles, known for the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area and tree-lined residential streets. La Brea Avenue is a busy north-south road, and its gas stations and bus stops see steady traffic through the afternoon.
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 Roshon Dwayne Davis could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at the gas station or bus stop at La Brea Avenue and Coliseum Street around 3 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2014, may hold information that could help detectives. The LAPD listed Detective Sal LaBarbera and Sgt. Shearholdt of the Criminal Gang Homicide Division at 485-4341. 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.
