WOODLAND HILLS : Memorial Held for Crime Victim

Friends and relatives of Christopher L. Brown gathered Friday for an informal memorial to the slain Woodland Hills man, who was shot in the chest last Sunday while chasing three shoplifters from an Encino 7-Eleven.

Brown, 24, who hoped to become a police officer or sheriff’s deputy, was an avid soccer player who often met his friends in Warner Park, near his family’s home. The mourners, including his sister Amy, met there Friday to look at photographs and possessions of Brown and exchange memories.

“It’s what Chris would have liked,” said his father, Dennis, adding that the shooting has moved the family to become active in efforts to combat gang violence. Three suspected gang members were arrested in connection with the killing, police have said.

“We’ve been told not to let this lay,” Dennis Brown said of his son’s death.