Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Classmates Honor Melody Ross; Her Teen Killers Charged as Adults

Team_Melody_ross.jpg

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

One week ago, 16-year-old Wilson High student Melody Ross was with her friends, watching the school's Homecoming football game. Last night the team observed a moment of silence in her honor, as Ross was gunned down minutes after she exited the Long Beach school's stadium. At last night's game students wrote MR on their cheeks, the team turned the school's "W" on their helmets upside down to make an "M" in their classmates honor, and attendees faced upped security, according to the Press-Telegram. Earlier that day in a Long Beach court Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, both 16-year-old gang members, found themselves charged as adults; the Deputy DA said the charges are as a result of the "seriousness of the crime" and the fact that it was gang-related, notes LA Now. Ross was an innocent bystander; two young men who were wounded "may have been the intended targets."

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today