Gunman Kills Baldwin Hills Resident in Front of His Home

A gunman accosted a Baldwin Hills resident as he returned to his home, police said Wednesday, and then fatally shot him while his teen-age daughter looked on.

James Kendricks, 53, a consultant active in community affairs, had just gotten out of his car at his Don Milagro Drive home when his attacker appeared out of the darkness and said, “Give me what you’ve got,” said Detective Lionel Robert of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau Homicide Section.

The gunman then shot Kendricks three times and ran off, Robert said.

His 18-year-old daughter, who had been in the car with her father about 10:35 p.m. Tuesday night, was unhurt. Her screams, Robert said, and the sound of gunfire brought Kendricks’ wife, Marie, to a second-story window in the well-to-do hillside community, seven miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

“She looked out to see her husband collapsing on the steps of the walkway and the gunman firing,” Robert said. Kendricks later died at Brotman Medical Center.

Police were checking whether the crime was related to a robbery in the same area two weeks ago, also involving a suspect on foot. But that crime did not involve murder, Robert said, and a second suspect was seen waiting in a nearby car.

The killing also appeared similar to last week’s late-night robbery-murder in the Wilshire area. There, a man approached two women who pulled up in a car in front of a home, demanded money, and then shot production assistant Tamu Bess to death.

Family members told police that Kendricks was a consultant to entertainers, although Robert said detectives were unable to learn the names of any clients. “We need to check whether this might have been the result of a business dispute,” Robert said.

He added that police were also investigating whether the killer was lying in wait for Kendricks.