Lawrence Rhodes was 14 years old when he died early on Sunday, November 11, 2007, in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 5037 W. Pico Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Wilshire Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Lawrence "was stabbed to death near the intersection of Orange and Pico Boulevard in L.A.'s Mid-City area just after midnight" and "died shortly after, at about 1:30 a.m." He had just arrived at what Wilshire homicide supervisor Chris Holroyd described as a "hip-hop party" in a commercial building on Pico. According to the report, "People came up to him on the sidewalk, and a fistfight broke out." Holroyd said it was a large brawl involving at least 10 people.
"Someone had a knife and stabbed Rhodes and the two other victims in the chaotic scene."
Two other young men, one of them a juvenile, were also stabbed. One was treated at a hospital and released, and the other underwent surgery. Both were expected to survive. Arriving officers tried to help Lawrence while they waited for paramedics, but, as the Times put it, "The crowd around them melted away, leaving no one to tell police what had happened, or to bear witness to who had killed Lawrence."
A news release from the Los Angeles Police Department added more detail. It said the fight happened at around 12:25 a.m. "at the corner of Pico Boulevard and Orange Avenue, on the sidewalk outside of a business where a dance was being held." It said that "The motive for the crime appears to be from an earlier argument," and that "Several vehicles were seen leaving the area." The suspects were described only as a group of young men who left the scene along with witnesses and others involved in the fight. Police asked anyone "who might have been at the dance" to come forward. The Times also reported that a reward for information in the case was pending.
The stretch of Pico Boulevard where Lawrence died runs through the Mid-City area, a dense part of central Los Angeles with apartment buildings, small businesses, churches and storefronts along its main streets. A dance or party in a commercial building there would have drawn young people from around the area, and many of them were on the sidewalk when the fight began.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Lawrence Rhodes could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. A boy of 14 died on a crowded sidewalk, in front of many people who left before police could speak with them. Anyone who attended the dance on Pico Boulevard near Orange Avenue on the night of November 10 and 11, 2007, or who later heard talk about the fight, may hold information that could help detectives. The Times listed Wilshire detectives at (213) 473-0446. 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 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
