LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed cash rewards today in the shooting death of a former Army sergeant in Lancaster and the apparently unprovoked shooting death of a 23-year-old father of three in Long Beach.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich recommended extending a $20,000 reward for information leading to whoever shot former Army Sgt. Nathen Taylor.
Taylor, 30, who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was shot while sitting in his parked car outside his brother’s house in the 700 block of West Avenue H-7 in Lancaster on April 21, 2012.
A group of men walked up to the car and one of them fired several rounds, according to a sheriff’s spokesman. Detectives said Taylor was not a gang member.
The $20,000 reward will now be available until at least Nov. 18.
Anyone with more information was asked to call sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Garcia or Detective Mitch Robison at (323) 890-5500.
Supervisor Don Knabe recommended that a separate $10,000 reward for information on whoever fatally shot Jose Luis Cruz in Long Beach be extended for at least 90 days.
Cruz, 23, who worked at local A&T Pawnshop, was driving his red Dodge Magnum to drop off a package at a nearby post office when someone stepped out of a car near Plymouth Street and Cedar Avenue and opened fire on the afternoon of Nov. 29.
Police officers found Cruz lying on the ground next to his vehicle, shot several times in his chest. He died two days later.
A co-worker who had been riding with Cruz told detectives that there was no dispute before the shooting.
The car in which the gunman was riding was identified as a maroon Nissan Altima with chrome door handles.
Several witnesses heard the shots, but no one has come forward with a description of the suspect.
Anyone with more information was asked to call Long Beach police Detectives Hugo Cortes or Peter Lackovic at (562) 570-7244.
