Memorial a Tribute to Stabbing Victim

Red roses, pink carnations, bright sunflowers and glass candles with pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ crowd the spot where Steven Cory Redden collapsed after being fatally stabbed two weeks ago.

“He wasn’t perfect and he wasn’t an angel, but he was a good kid that always tried to help others out,” Elizabeth Redden said while describing her 20-year-old son as highly independent and motivated. “He was working part time and hoping to go back to Valley College for his art classes. He wanted to be an artist.”

Steven Redden and a 17-year-old friend were standing in line at a hot dog stand in the 12100 block of Magnolia Boulevard on May 10 when two assailants asked their gang affiliation, Los Angeles Police Det. Mike Coffey said. During an argument that followed, one stabbed Redden in the upper torso.

Redden walked across the street and collapsed in front of a gas station. He was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Coffey said.

The two assailants, who fled in a red car, are believed to be gang members, Coffey said. Redden and his friend were not gang members, the detective said. Visitors stopped at Redden’s memorial throughout the day Tuesday to pause and reflect on his death. Friends from the North Hollywood neighborhood where the slain man was born and grew up have stocked the memorial with fresh flowers, candles, cards and photographs every morning, Elizabeth Redden said.

“It makes me feel good because I know people cared about him and loved him,” she said. “The kids and the neighborhood have been tremendously supportive.”

Although she drives by the memorial every day, Elizabeth Redden said she has only stopped twice: once after the funeral May 12 and again Tuesday.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she said, “It just gets to be too painful to stop by all the time.”