Family, Neighbors Mourn Slain Boy

Thirteen candles, all burned out, marked the place in the litter-strewn alley where 14-year-old Byron Lee Jr. was shot and killed Saturday afternoon. Another 20 candles were lined up by mourners in front of the cluster of houses where the boy lived with his mother and other relatives. Neighbors here on the 600 block of East 81st Street spent Sunday grieving for the boy known to nearly everyone as B.J. The street, usually filled with the sound of children playing basketball, was quiet.

In a neighborhood where sporadic violence is not unknown, the circumstances of B.J.’s killing still shocked residents.

Witnesses told Los Angeles Police Department officials that the Fremont High School ninth-grader was shot by two men in a dark-colored car while riding his bicycle. The assailants then got out of the vehicle and apparently shot and killed B.J. as he knelt in the alley, clasped his hands and seemed to plead for his life. Police at the scene found more than half a dozen shell casings on the ground.

Detectives said they had not determined a motive for the killing. The suspects and weapons had not been found, said LAPD Sgt. Art Duran.

More than 50 family members crowded Sunday into the small house behind a chain-link fence where B.J. lived with his mother, Keva Byum.

“We’re just trying to make it through and hold up my sister as best as we can,” said Larry Lampkin, B.J.’s uncle. “The whole neighborhood loved him.”

Lampkin, 40, remembered his nephew as a handsome, well-mannered kid who always finished his chores and homework before heading out to play. B.J., who wore his hair in braids and favored a low-slung hip-hop style of clothing, was serious about music, spending hours in his room tapping out beats on the synthesizer and writing rhymes. Not much taller than 5 feet, Lampkin said, B.J. charmed girls with his friendly hazel eyes and muscular physique.

On Saturday, Lampkin was taking out drywall from a room in the house and B.J. was breaking it up with enthusiastic karate chops in the backyard. About midday, they decided to take a break and Lampkin dozed off.

He woke up to the sound of a helicopter and commotion outside. His nephew was pronounced dead on arrival at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

“This is a senseless killing,” said Lampkin, who said his 2-year-old daughter had been shouting her cousin’s name Sunday and expecting him to come home. “You see it all the time, but this time it really hit home.”

Lampkin said the family suspects the teenager was caught in a gang-related battle, but that he was not a gang member.

B.J.’s killing hit the family hard, especially since his younger brother died last year from cancer, Lampkin said. He said he wasn’t sure how the family was going to find the money to bury another child.

In front of B.J.’s house Sunday, Carolina Romero, 15, and her brother John, 8, set down a yellow candle. They had moved in down the block just a few days ago but had already played football with B.J. in the street.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the LAPD at (213) 485-1385.