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A 20-year-old member of the East Los Angeles College men's basketball team was shot and killed Thursday morning in Monterey Park, reports the L.A. Times.
At around 4 a.m., Saieed Ivey's body was found in a Mercedes-Benz in the parking lot of an apartment complex by the 800 block of West El Repetto Drive. Police were responding to reports of gunshots in the area. They found the Mercedes-Benz with its headlights on. Upon inspecting the car, they found an unresponsive Ivey with a gunshot wound to his upper torso.
Sandra Simon, a resident of the apartment complex, told the Times that she'd heard a "bloodcurling scream" at around 3:30 a.m. but brushed it off because there was a nearby college; she claimed that sometimes the students would act out and get loud. "Sometimes you hear screaming and nothing happens," she said.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Ivey was celebrating his 20th birthday with friends when he told them he was going out to his car. A few minutes later the friends heard gunshots. Authorities say they currently don't know why Ivey had gone out to his car. They are investigating the case as a homicide.
Ivey had moved to Los Angeles from Chicago with the desire to move to a safer neighborhood, reports the Tribune. He played as a guard for the ELAC Huskies but was taking the year off from basketball to concentrate on his schoolwork, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Prior to playing for ELAC, Ivey competed at the high school level for Simeon Career Academy, the same school that NBA standouts Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker had played for. Parker was a longtime childhood of Ivey's, reports the Tribune. Sonny Parker, Jabari's father, said that Ivey "was just confident and full of energy. Full of joy. Always smiling."
According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, there had been rumors circulating on social media that the police were involved with Ivey's death. Black Lives Matter Chicago had sent out a tweet saying it'd learned that Ivey was gunned down by police as he was entering his car. Chance The Rapper also tweeted a similar report to his 1.69 million followers. The tweets have since been removed. Black Lives Matter Chicago has been retweeting condolences sent to Ivey and his family:
Some of our members' students and youth were friends with Saieed. All death is horrible. Saieed's death on his birthday is especially hard.
— BLMChicago (@BLMChi) June 9, 2016
My eyes are teary, Saieed was a leader. He had a good head on his shoulders, he was very respectful and hard working. He inspired us all.
— Kayla Eubanks (@UziSuzy) June 9, 2016
I don't care if Saieed got shot by the police or a hater. It was reckless and uncalled for regardless.
— Kyle M. (@Kylillinois) June 9, 2016
