$25,000 Reward Is Sought in Mid-Wilshire Murder : Violence: Sketch of suspected gunman is released. The victim had recently moved here from New York.

Authorities have released a sketch of the suspected gunman in the murder last week of a woman who had been active in New York City politics, and a $25,000 reward will be sought for his capture.

Tamu Bess, 39, was shot to death Aug. 1 during an attempted robbery in the mid-Wilshire area.

City Councilman Nate Holden, whose 10th District includes the area where the shooting occurred, said he will ask the council today to offer the reward, which he hopes will “trigger the flow of information to the police.”

Bess had been a special assistant to former New York secretary of state and Deputy Mayor Basil Patterson and had worked on the campaign of Mayor David N. Dinkins. She moved to Los Angeles in September to work in television production, her friends said.

The murder occurred as Bess and a friend returned from a celebration of the completion of a documentary, police said. As the pair pulled up in front of the co-worker’s home in the 900 block of South Victoria Avenue, a man approached the driver’s side of the car, pointed a handgun through the window and demanded that the women hand over their purses. He fired, hitting Bess in the chest, but fled empty-handed, police said.

“She was a very creative person, a caring spirit as evidenced by her lifelong struggle for liberation,” the Rev. Cecil Murray of First African Methodist Episcopal Church said before services for Bess Thursday night.

Police asked anyone with information about the murder to call detectives at (213) 485-2531 weekdays or (213) 485-2504 nights and weekends.