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L.A. Now Live: Discuss changes to The Times’ Homicide Report

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L. Christopher Caver Jr., 38, shows a scar on his stomach, a result of a 2012 shooting when he was hit seven times inside his car. He has lived in the Westmont area of South L.A. for more than a decade.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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December Diefear stands next to a warning sign posted on a fence along Vermont Avenue in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Pedestrians make their way along Vermont Avenue in the Westmont area.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Brian Sanders, left, a manager with the Gang Alternative Program, watches as one of his charges paints over gang graffiti on a nearby storefront along Vermont Avenue in the Westmont area.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A German shepherd stands sentry in the front yard of a home in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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“I’m just fed up in this area,” said Aaron Eden, 38, about crime in his neighborhood. His house has been broken into twice, the Westmont resident said.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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People hang out in front of a pawn shop along Vermont Avenue and 83rd Street in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Twins Eiljah, left, and Eli Mott walk back from the store with their father Dwane Mott along 99th Street in the Westmont area.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A family photo shows Isaiah Gray, 28, right, with his sons Noah Gray, 2, left, and Elijah Gray, 3. Isaiah Gray, 28, was shot and died from his wound in the Westmont area.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Jackie Pineda, 27, holds the hand of her son Noah Gray, 2, in her Westmont apartment where her fiance Isaiah Gray, 28, Noah’s father, died after being shot.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Jacky Pineda, 27, holding her son Noah Gray, 2, watches as her son Elijah Gray, 3, plays on the balcony of her apartment where her fiance Isaiah Gray, 28, was shot to death. Gray’s brother was arrested as the suspect in his killing.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Elijah Gray, 3, rests his head against his forearms below photos of his father Isaiah Gray, 28, who was shot to death at this apartment in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman and child walk down an alley between 93rd and 94th streets in Westmont. The 1.8-square-mile area has seen 100 homicides in the last seven years.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Roy Clark sweeps up broken glass on a street near his home along 104th Street in the Westmont area of South Los Angeles. “The shootings start on the next street over -- 105th,” Clark said. “It’’s gang violence. It’s been a lot of shooting lately.”   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Over the weekend The Times launched a new and improved version of the Homicide Report, which has tracked every homicide in Los Angeles County since 2007. The latest iteration combines the best pieces of the map, database and blog to give readers a better sense of who is being killed in Los Angeles, and where.

Discuss the changes to the Homicide Report with Times staffers Nicole Santa Cruz and Ken Schwencke at 9 a.m. Monday.

Homicide Report: A story for every victim

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Since 2007, the blog has recorded more than 5,200 killings in Los Angeles County with in-depth as well as bare-bones posts. Reporters have documented the lives of family members left behind, detectives on the street, gang interventionists, suspects’ trials and more.

Now, updates on older cases will be easier to find, with posts about an individual case collected and available both from the new posts and from the older ones. Reader can compare neighborhoods with a new tool that takes into account size and population density, and filter the database to find information on any combination of race, gender, cause of death and neighborhood.

MORE: South Vermont Avenue: L.A. County’s ‘death alley’

In an analysis published in The Times on Sunday, Santa Cruz and Schwencke looked at “death alley,” two miles near South Vermont Avenue where 60 people have been killed since 2007, most of them shot. The area is the border of the Westmont and Vermont Vista neighborhoods.

In a county of 10 million people, Westmont is among the deadliest places to live. In the last seven years, 100 people — nearly all of them male — have been killed in the 1.8 square miles wedged between the city of Los Angeles and Inglewood. A Times analysis of homicide data collected in that time found Westmont’s rate of killings to be the highest overall.

Submit your questions and comments about the blog, and join the conversation at 9 a.m.

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