Man Suspected Of Killing Ex-Girlfriend In Bellflower In Custody

BELLFLOWER, CA -- A man suspected of shooting and killing a former girlfriend, the mother of his three children, in Bellflower was in custody Tuesday.

Antowan Parker Jr., 27, allegedly shot Kenia Buckner, 31, at 1:35 p.m. on Jan. 16 at her apartment in the 16200 block of Cornuta Avenue, the sheriff's department reported.

"The suspect shot Kenia in front of the 10-year-old child they shared and in front of Kenia's mother," according to a sheriff's statement that said Buckner's 10-year-old niece and other family members were present and watched as the woman died at the scene.

Sheriff's investigators, Bellflower's mayor and Buckner's mother, Debbie Buckner, appealed for tips as to the man's whereabouts at a news conference last month at the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park, where a $5,000 reward was announced for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Buckner and Parker's three children are 10-year-old boy-and-girl twins and a 4-year-old daughter.

Parker was arrested on Friday and is being held in lieu of $4.2 million bail. He is next due in court in Norwalk on May 1, according to sheriff's inmate records.

Details about his arrest were not immediately available.

Buckner worked as a hairstylist and was studying for a career in nursing, according to the sheriff's department.

-- City news Service, photo courtesy of the LASD