$20,000 Reward Announced for Tips on Murder of Compton Man

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Detectives announced a $20,000 reward Thursday for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for a double homicide last May in Compton.

The Board of Supervisors accepted $10,000 in reward money from the family of one of two men shot to death at a gas station in Compton. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas approved an additional $10,000, bringing the reward money to $20,000.

"If we want to march and talk about how much black lives matter, let's prove it," Compton Mayor Aja Brown said. "Let's prove it and step up and make certain that those people that committed this execution are brought to justice."

At about 9 p.m. May 15, 24-year-old Richard Williams was driving out of a 76 gas station in the 1200 block of South Wilmington Avenue with two friends -- 23-year-old Boston Farley and 26-year-old Brandon Upchurch -- when a white pickup drove up and blocked their path, Ridley-Thomas said. A gunman got out of the passenger side of the pickup and shot multiple rounds into the victims' car before getting back into the pickup, which sped off.

Williams was struck by multiple rounds and died at the scene. Farley, also hit, died at St. Francis Medical Center.

Authorities said Upchurch was uninjured.

Sheriff's officials said the victims were not gang members, but their assailants could be.

"The suspects were out looking for somebody -- could be anybody, could be a rival gang -- saw these young men and decided, let's shoot these guys," sheriff's Lt. John Corina.

The suspects' truck was described as a white Chevy or GMC utility service truck with ladder racks and built-in side tool boxes.

The Williams family offered the $10,000 in hopes of finding his killer.

Anyone with information on the slayings was urged to call sheriff's homicide Det. Teri Bernstein or Sgt. Chaffey Shepard at (323) 890-5500 or CrimeStoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).

-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock