Man Pleads Not Guilty in Death of Parks Relative

An 18-year-old man pleaded not guilty Friday in the May 28 shooting death of Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks’ granddaughter, Lori Gonzalez.

Samuel Sharad Shabazz of Los Angeles was charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder with special circumstances. If convicted, Shabazz could face the death penalty.

He is being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility without bail.

Gonzalez, who was killed one week short of her 21st birthday, was shot several times as she and a male companion prepared to pull out of the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in Southwest Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police believe the friend, whom they described as a member of a gang that is a rival of Shabazz’s, was the intended target. Shots were fired at his side of the vehicle; he ducked and Gonzalez was struck.

Shabazz’s attorney, deputy public defender Jeffrey Gilliam, said identity remains a central issue of the case and that further dissemination of his client’s photograph could bias witnesses who will be asked to identify Shabazz.

On the basis of those and other arguments, Judge Kevin L. Brown denied requests by media organizations Friday to film or photograph Shabazz, said by police to be affiliated with the West Boulevard Crips.

Gonzalez’s father and stepmother, Jose and Debbie, sat two rows behind members of the Shabazz family during the short proceedings.

Dressed in orange fatigues, Shabazz strained from inside a glass enclosure to catch a glimpse of his family, which left after the plea.

No words were exchanged between the two families.

“It helps me to still feel close to [Lori] by being part of this process,” Debbie Gonzalez said hours before Shabazz entered the courtroom.

“I have a desire to see this guy,” she said, then paused, clenching her fist, “but I don’t know why.

“We’ve been in a state of disbelief,” she added. “I still look for her car when we get home.”

Gonzalez was the daughter of Felicia Parks-Mena and Jose Gonzalez, but lived with her stepmother and father in Mission Viejo, where she attended Saddleback College.

She had been invited to go on a camping trip on the weekend of her death, but stayed behind to visit her mother in Los Angeles.

Shabazz returns to court July 10 to set a preliminary hearing.