A South Los Angeles man has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 87-year-old grandmother at the home they shared.
Brent Lamont Thomas, 43, was charged in the Nov. 29 slaying of Ethel Porter, who was apparently stabbed to death with a broom handle.
A vigil was planned for Tuesday, Dec. 6, for Porter at the scene of her death at 911 W. 41st St. to support the family, remember the victim, and “bring attention and awareness to the ill effects of drugs and pain in our communities.”
The criminal complaint alleged that Thomas used a deadly and dangerous weapon-a broomstick-in the commission of the crime.
Anika Simpson Richardson told Channel 7 that her brother may have been hallucinating when he picked up a broom and allegedly stabbed his grandmother in the chest.
“As I got over here, my mom told me my brother was hallucinating,” Richardson said. He said, ‘My head had been shot off.’ He had said that somebody else was killed, and he just picked up a broom and just started stabbing her, stabbing her in her chest. She was already elderly; she lost a lot of blood.”
Thomas is also charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon against his mother.Thomas-who reportedly barricaded himself for several hours in a shed behind the home-was arrested shortly before 6 p.m. by the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau Homicide.
He remains jailed on more than $1 million bail, pending his next court appearance on Dec. 14 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
