2 Reputed Gang Members Arrested in Slaying of Cabdriver

A Los Angeles man traced through his nickname, “Shorty,” and a 17-year-old juvenile, both reputed gang members with long criminal records, have been arrested on suspicion of murder for the July 5 slaying of a Nigerian cabdriver, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Ume Onyeanusi, 54, who was shot in South-Central Los Angeles, was one of three taxi drivers slain in the last three months.

Arrested Thursday were Robert Louis Berry, 21, of Los Angeles, and the teen-ager, whose name was not released because of his age, Lt. Richard Molony said.

Police said the cabdriver was shot as he ran away from several men who tried to commandeer the cab near the intersection of Broadway and 80th Street. The men reportedly had just robbed several occupants of a nearby house and Onyeanusi “was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Molony said.

Several witnesses came forward with partial descriptions of the assailants, he said, and in following up subsequent leads over the next three weeks, detectives kept hearing the nickname of a possible suspect--”Shorty.”

Molony said the clue led detectives to several possible suspects, and finally to the 5-foot-7, 115-pound Berry. Both he and the 17-year-old, whom authorities will seek to have prosecuted as an adult, were arrested without incident, he said.

Molony said the pair have a history of robbing cocaine rock houses, but that it is not clear if that was the motive for the robbery before the shooting of Onyeanusi. Detectives are looking for two gang associates of the pair for questioning in connection with the robbery, he said.

Since 1983, Berry has been arrested five times for auto theft, three times for robbery, once for burglary and another time for lewd conduct with a minor, Molony said, but many of the charges were dropped and he served only a short time in County Jail.

Officials at L.A. Taxi said they were happy to learn of the arrests. “We feel a lot safer,” said company Vice President Dennis Rouse.

In one of the other incidents, a teen-age boy was arrested hours after a cabdriver for AM-PM Taxi Co., Jeno Zoltan Koncz, 38, was shot to death July 18 in Long Beach.

No arrests have been made yet in the death of Titus Imaku, 35, who was shot May 1 in a South Los Angeles alley.