The Region : Slain Man Beaten, Not Shot, Police Find

Emmanuel Lofton Jr., whose body was found in a park behind the St. Andrews Recreation Center in South Los Angeles, was killed by blunt force, not a gunshot, as was earlier believed, Los Angeles Police Cmdr. William Booth said. “He was beaten around the head with an object of some kind,” coroner’s spokesman Bill Gold said. The case will be investigated by homicide detectives from the 77th Street Division, not by detectives from a task force formed to find the person responsible for a series of murders of transients and lone men since Sept. 4. Lofton, 37, was the brother of Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Lofton. Police also said the death of another unidentified man whose body was found near the Pasadena Freeway was not the work of the same person tentatively tied to nine other killings. Officers declined to elaborate.