Pedro Cano Velasquez was 44 years old when he died on Thursday, February 1, 2007, in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed at West Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and New High Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Central Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only a brief entry. It described him as "a 44-year-old Latino male" who "died Thursday, Feb. 1, after being stabbed in Chinatown, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records." The location was given as an intersection rather than a street address, which suggests he may have been attacked on or near the street, although the report does not say so.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Pedro Cano Velasquez has been made public.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Searches for his name turn up other men named Pedro Velasquez in other states and other years, which is not surprising for a common Spanish surname. None of those records can be tied to the man who died in Chinatown in 2007.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Chinatown sits just north of downtown Los Angeles, close to the Civic Center, Union Station and El Pueblo de Los Angeles, the historic district around Olvera Street. Its streets mix restaurants, small shops, apartment buildings and senior housing with older commercial blocks, and the neighborhood draws both longtime residents and visitors. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue is a major street that carries traffic between downtown, Chinatown and the neighborhoods to the east, so the area around the intersection where Pedro was found is busy at many hours of the day. Central Division, which covers downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, handled the case.
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 Pedro Cano Velasquez 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 man of 44 died after being stabbed at a busy corner on the edge of downtown, and his case has drawn almost no public attention since. Anyone who lived or worked near Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and New High Street in Chinatown in late January or early February 2007, or who knew Pedro and lost touch with him around that time, may remember something that could matter. 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).
