Armido Solano was 19 years old when he died on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005, in the Florence neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 8419 S. San Pedro St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department 77th Street Division case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Latino man who was still a teenager. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Armido Solano 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.
His first name is uncommon, and searches combining it with his surname turned up nothing at all beyond the Homicide Report listing.
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.
The coroner gave a specific street address on South San Pedro Street. That may mean he was found at or near a home or building there, but the record does not say whether he lived on that block, was visiting, or was found outside on the street. Nothing has been published about his family, his schooling or his work.
Florence is one of the older neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, named for Florence Avenue, which runs east and west through the area. It is made up largely of modest single-family houses, small apartment buildings and corner stores, with industrial and commercial strips along some of its larger streets. In 2005 it was home to many working families, a large share of them Latino and Black, and it fell within the area patrolled by the LAPD's 77th Street Division. San Pedro Street is a long north-south road that runs from downtown Los Angeles south through these neighborhoods.
Many killings in South Los Angeles in those years drew little or no press attention. The absence of news coverage does not mean that no one knows what happened, only that what people know has not reached the public record.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Armido Solano could be found in news archives or public records. More than 20 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near the 8400 block of South San Pedro Street in February 2005, who knew Armido or the people he spent time with, or who heard talk afterward about what happened to a 19-year-old there, 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 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).
