Hamzeh Taisir Hassan was 18 years old when he died on Monday, November 10, 2003, in Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1300 E. Holt Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pomona Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 18-year-old white male" who "died Monday, Nov. 10, after being stabbed in Pomona." The entry did not say what he was doing on Holt Avenue, whether he knew the person who stabbed him, or whether he died at the scene or later. No news story about his death appears to have been written.
The only other public trace of his death is a list of Pomona homicides compiled and shared online by a community group.
It records him as the city's 17th homicide of 2003, a stabbing on the 1300 block of East Holt Avenue, the same details found in the coroner's record.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Hamzeh Taisir Hassan has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. He surely had family, friends or classmates who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Hamzeh Hassan is a name shared by many people around the world, and searches turn up others with it, none of whom can be tied to this death.
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.
He was barely an adult. At 18 he may have only recently finished high school, and the people closest to him would most likely have been family members and friends his own age. Those are the people most likely to know where he was going that day and whom he may have been with.
Pomona is one of the larger cities in eastern Los Angeles County, set in the Pomona Valley near the San Bernardino County line. It is home to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair has been held for generations. Holt Avenue is one of the city's main east-west streets, a busy commercial corridor carrying traffic across Pomona.
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 Hamzeh Taisir Hassan could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew an 18-year-old named Hamzeh Hassan, or who was on or near East Holt Avenue in Pomona in November 2003, may hold information that could help. 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 Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
