$25,000 Reward Gains Support in Gang Slayings of Mother, Son

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and City Councilman Robert Farrell on Thursday joined in supporting a $25,000 reward in the apparent gang slayings of a South-Central Los Angeles mother and her teen-age son.

Bessie Mae Ross, 54, and her 14-year-old son, David, were killed Sept. 11 in what police believe was a retaliatory attack by gang members. Investigators said the killers had intended to slay an older member of the family, suspected of killing one of their gang members four days earlier.

Bradley called the Ross murders “one of the most outrageous attacks seen in recent months on the part of gangs in South Los Angeles.”

Farrell, who expects the reward to be approved by the City Council next week, said it is needed to help stop the pattern of violence in the district.

“This indicates that in South Los Angeles we have reached a point of saying, ‘That madness has got to cease,’ ” he said.

Deputy Police Chief Jesse Brewer said investigators have been given the names of several possible suspects. But, he added, more evidence and witnesses are needed and the reward “may induce whatever witness there may be out there to come forth.”

Brewer said the killings apparently stemmed from the Sept. 7 shooting death of Stanford Bursey, 24. Detectives from the South Bureau Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums arrested Johnny Ross, 19, older son of Bessie Mae Ross, last Sunday. He has been charged with the murder of Bursey.