City Offers Reward in Gang Member’s Death

Police still have more questions than answers in the slaying of Francisco Hernandez on Sept. 22, but they are hoping a $25,000 reward approved by the City Council this week will generate new leads in the almost 7-month-old case.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to put up the reward for information that leads to an arrest.

According to police reports, Hernandez, 19, was walking on Plummer Street less than a block from his family’s apartment when someone riding in a gray, late-1980s Ford Bronco fired several shots at him. Police said Hernandez was a known gang member who may have agitated rival gangs in the days prior to the shooting.

Det. Steve Fisk of the Los Angeles Police Department said investigators are focusing on contact Hernandez may have had with rivals.

“Something went on. You don’t find a lot of gang members driving around at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning shooting up the town,” Fisk said. “We know he didn’t assault anyone with a weapon. He didn’t hurt anyone. But no matter what he did, you don’t deserve to get shot down like a dog.”

Kathleen Hernandez, the victim’s mother, insisted that her son strived to rise above gang activity and never officially joined one.

“The only gang problems he had were gang members bothering him,” she said. “He didn’t really have enemies.”

Hernandez added that her son had entered a program for troubled youths run by a local church, but dropped out a few weeks before his death. He was addicted to crystal methamphetamine and hoped “to make a change and start a new life,” she said.

Francisco Hernandez turned 19 nine days before his death and his fiancee gave birth to their first child on March 31, his mother said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the LAPD’s Van Nuys station at (818) 756-8377 from 5 a.m. to midnight.