Authorities are searching for a suspect after a teenager was shot and killed outside of a party in the Manchester Square neighborhood of South Los Angeles.
According to LAPD, a shots fired call came in around 11:45 p.m. Saturday evening from the area of 74th Street and Western Avenue.
When officers arrived on scene, they discovered a 16-year-old Black male, now identified as Quincy Reese, lying dead on the sidewalk in front of homes on 74th Street east of Western Avenue.
Preliminary reports suggest that organizers of a high school flyer party at a rental hall on Western Avenue were charging a cover charge to get in, and that the teen was walking away from the party when he was shot and killed.
“It does seem that nothing really occurred at the party inside,” said LAPD Lieutenant Victoria Lim. “Everything happened outside.”
On Sunday night, the teen’s grieving father, along with more than 100 other people, were outside Crenshaw High where Reese went to school. He was being remembered as a promising athlete and student.
“God gave me 16 years of him, and I thank him for that,” Quincy Reese Sr., the victim’s father told KTLA. “He did everything I asked for, a 3.4 GPA. Daddy ain’t going to tell you nothing. He’ll get you whatever you want.”
The teen was set to start high school as the captain of his basketball team. The young talent was already being scouted.
“He had 58 scholarship offers, 58 already,” his cousin, Eric Johnson, told KTLA. “He scouts from the NBA watching him.”
Ed Waters was the teenager’s basketball coach.
“We’re definitely going to dedicate our season to him for sure and try to do the things that he wanted to do, win the championship, before he left the school,” his coach said.
In a statement Monday, Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto M. Carvalho said the district was “heartbroken” over Reese’s death.
“(He) was denied his senior year, playing at Crenshaw High School’s basketball team and a promising future in college and in life,” the superintendent said. “Our thoughts are with his family and the entire Crenshaw community.”
As classmates, teammates, friends and family gathered to mourn outside the school, the attention now turns to finding justice.
“I just wish whoever…if anybody knows anything, just please speak up, say something. It can be anonymous, just anything,” the teen’s cousin, Theresa Johnson said.
The suspect description has not yet been released, and a search for the gunman is currently underway.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is urged to contact the LAPD.
