LOS ANGELES, Calif.–The Los Angeles City Council today approved $50,000 rewards for information leading to convictions in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 78-year-old man in June and a fatal drive-by shooting in 2011.
The council voted unanimously to approve the two reward motions brought by Councilman Bernard Parks.
Jimmie Thomas was struck by a vehicle heading southbound on Western Avenue near 55th Street on June 18 around noon. He died days later at a hospital. Witnesses described the vehicle as a dark-colored, 2000-05 Ford Escape.
Los Angeles Police Department South Traffic Detective Kitti Yount told the council that witnesses pursued the driver, but were unable to keep up or catch any part of the license plate number.
Yount said she had done an exhaustive check of security video in the area, including along 57th Street, where the car was last seen.
“I’ve checked and rechecked, interviewed and re-interviewed all of my witnesses,” Yount said. “To this point, we’re at a stalemate. We don’t have any further leads.”
Thomas’ widow said her husband was a locksmith who lived in South Los Angeles for more than 50 years. She fought back tears as she addressed the driver of the car that hit Thomas.
“You took my husband from me. You took my life,” Peggy Thomas said.
“You don’t know the pain and the sorrow that I feel.”
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run was urged to call Yount at (323) 421-2535.
The council also approved a reward for information that helps detectives track down whoever is responsible for the shooting death of Kristy Ann Roby, 32, on April 29, 2011.
Roby was shot while sitting in a car near the intersection of W. 57th Street and S. Wilton Place around 12:15 a.m. A dark-colored vehicle made a pass by the victim’s car, then made a U-turn and an occupant opened fire.
Roby had moved back to Los Angeles from Dallas, Texas, two months prior to the shooting. She left behind a daughter, who is now 2 years old.
“I just want justice for her,” Roby’s older sister, April Roby, told the council. “It’s just not fair that someone who has nothing to do with gang-banging loses their life. And her daughter asks about her every day. It’s just very unsettling.”
Anyone with information about the Roby shooting was asked to call LAPD Criminal Gang and Homicide unit Detective Myra Kellum at (213) 485-1383.
