‘Keep in mind’
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Nineteen-year-old Kimberly Bonds cherished life.
Bonds’ friend, Marguerite Gray, 33, said she liked taking pictures of landscapes. Gray said Bonds was attending Cal State Dominguez Hills to become a professional photographer.
‘One thing I definitely remember is that she loved taking pictures,’ said Bonds’ sister, Candi Bobbitt, 25. ‘If a tree [swayed] one way, she would take a picture.’
Bonds, the youngest of four girls, graduated from Centennial High School in Compton, where she played basketball. She loved children and befriended almost every child at the South Bay Villa Apartment complex in Athens, where she lived with Gray.
At home, Gray said Bonds would call her 7-month-old nephew, Tyler, pictured left, her best friend. Bobbitt said that her sister would call her 1-year-old son her soul mate. Now, Bobbitt, who lives in St. Louis, said she cries when she looks at her son.
On Sunday, July 13, Bonds was walking home along San Pedro Street when she stopped to talk with friends in front of her apartment complex, said Gray. Two black men walked out of an alley across from the complex. Then, the men began shooting at rival gang members standing near her. Gray said Bonds, attempting to take cover, was struck by gunfire. Friends told Gray that they had taken Bonds to the hospital. An ambulance had been called but Gray said it took too long. Hours later, Bonds was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The next day, Gray held a vigil for Bonds. She printed pictures of her and taped them to the security gate by the driveway, where Bonds had collapsed. Flowers and glass-encased vigil candles were also placed next to the patch of grass in her memory.
‘I put her pictures up so that [the shooters] can see what kind of life they took away,’ Gray said. ‘She can’t finish school now. This baby was going to school.’
In the kitchen of her apartment, with her children nearby, Gray said she was grateful to Bonds. Gray said Bonds had spoken to her 15-year-old son who was starting to wear red clothing, a color associated with the Bloods gang. Gray said that her son was also staying out late, but after Bonds spoke to him, he stopped wearing red clothing and started staying home. ‘I thank her so much because my son stays home,’ Gray said.
In the kitchen, Gray’s nephew, Tyler, starts to crawl for the first time. Behind her, on a bookshelf, is a piece of paper with the acronym K.I.M.
‘It means ‘Keep in mind,’’ Gray’s daughter said.
Update: An earlier version of this story referred to Kimberly Bonds’ sister as Brandi Bobbit. Her first name is Candi.
—Ruben Vives / Los Angeles Times
