County Offers $10,000 Reward in Fatal Shooting of 15-Year-Old

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Board of Supervisors offered a $10,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the drive-by gunman who fatally shot a 15-year-old boy in the unincorporated Westmont area.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recommended the reward, hoping to track down the killer of Mark Tyree Jr., who was about to start 9th grade at New Millennium Secondary School in Gardena.

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives believe that there are witnesses in the neighborhood that may have seen the suspects leave the area or know their identities," Ridley-Thomas said.

About 8:10 p.m. June 26, the teen was talking to a friend while standing in a driveway in the 1300 block of West 92nd Street, a few feet from his home, when someone opened fire from the front passenger window of a gray Chevy Camaro.

Tyree was struck by the barrage and collapsed. He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he died.

Investigators believe the shooting may have been gang-related, but said neither Tyree nor his friend were gang members.

"They were just two kids hanging out in front of a residence," sheriff's Lt. John Corina told the Los Angeles Times. "It was just a place they liked to congregate with their friends, but that night, there were only two."

Anyone with more information was asked to call sheriff's Sgt. Domenick Recchia at (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).

— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock