Richard Mitchell, 21

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Richard Mitchell, 21, a black young man, was struck eight times by gunfire at 1262 E. 77th St. in Florence on Sunday, June 10, and survived until his death 10 days later, at 2:20 p.m Wednesday, June 20.

He was sitting on a front porch with another man when a Latino man or youth in a white, mid-sized car cruised by and shot both of them. The other young man, hit in the arm, survived. Mitchell was classified as stable immediately after his injuries, and was transferred to Kaiser Hospital in East Hollywood. Friends said he had a bullet in his jaw, and had undergone surgery so that it could be removed. Sometime during surgery or treatment, Mitchell had a heart attack, and could not be revived.

Above, bullet holes on the wall next to where Mitchell and his friend were struck. It is the friend’s house. Mitchell was visiting. The friend’s mother said Mitchell’s parents took his body to their home state of Mississippi to bury him. The neighbor offered that she, too, had a son who was murdered four years ago--a 15-year-old African American youth. She said no reporter had ever asked her about her son, and that no media organization had given the death the least attention. The murder was never solved, she said bitterly. She teared up. She said she would give the message to Mitchell’s parents.