In the winter of 1993, a series of terrifying and unsolved drive-by shootings began in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles, and a 32-year-old local man, Howard L. Campbell, was its first victim. His death on January 31, 1993, marked the start of a four-month period of fear for the community, as a lone gunman targeted and killed Black men in a small, specific area.
The killer, who remains unidentified, would become known as the Harbor City serial shooter or The 253rd Street Killer.
On that Sunday night, at about 9:00 p.m., Howard was standing in front of a residence at 1087 W. 252nd Street when he was fatally shot. According to a 15-year-old girl who witnessed the attack, a white man in a Jeep pulled up, and the sound of gunfire followed. "It was pow, pow, pow," she recalled, stating that he was shot in the chest. The shooter then sped away, leaving Howard to die at the scene. The sudden violence left residents shaken and afraid to even walk outside.
The murder of Howard Campbell was initially investigated as a drive-by shooting, a tragically common occurrence in an area that had experienced its share of gang-related violence. However, this attack was different. Witnesses described the perpetrator as a white male with reddish hair, which was unusual in the predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood where violence was more typically intra-racial. The motive was baffling to investigators; robbery was quickly ruled out as nothing was taken from the victims.
Just two weeks later, on Valentine's Day, the killer struck again. Michael Kevin Meador, 35, was shot and killed in front of the exact same address on West 252nd Street where Howard had lost his life. This chilling repetition solidified the community's fear and pointed to a serial predator. The pattern continued on April 15, when 26-year-old Joseph Alexander Maxwell was murdered two blocks away at 1039 W. 254th Street. In each fatal shooting, the gunman would beckon the men over to his vehicle as if to speak with them before opening fire.
A major break in the case came on May 22, 1993, when the shooter attacked a fourth man on the 1100 block of West 253rd Street. The 38-year-old victim was shot three times but survived. He was able to provide police with a detailed description of his attacker: a white man between 25 and 35 years old with red hair, driving a red Jeep with a white top. This description matched what other witnesses had reported, allowing police to officially link the four shootings and create a composite sketch of the suspect.
Despite the eyewitness accounts and the distinct pattern of the crimes—all four shootings of Black men occurred within a tight, three-block radius, mostly between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.—the killer seemed to vanish. The Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau homicide division investigated, but without a clear motive—racial, sexual, or otherwise—the trail went cold. Lt. Sergio Robledo of the LAPD acknowledged the "potential for creating well-reasoned fear throughout the community" and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Decades later, the case of the Harbor City serial shootings remains unsolved. Howard L. Campbell, Michael Kevin Meador, and Joseph Alexander Maxwell are not forgotten, but their killer has never been brought to justice. The man who survived the final attack was left "scared to death" and fearful for his life. The series of murders stands as a chilling cold case, a reminder of the months when a mysterious gunman haunted the streets of Harbor City, leaving a legacy of fear and unanswered questions.
