June 20, 2019
By City News Service
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors established or renewed $10,000 rewards today in hopes of solving the unrelated killings of a 65-year-old homeless man bludgeoned to death in West Hollywood last year and a 22-year-old former Long Beach City College football player gunned down in Willowbrook in 2015.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended the reward in the case of George McKinney, who was found May 23, 2018, lying in the street near Santa Monica Boulevard and Hilldale Avenue with a head injury following an argument with a motorist. McKinney was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead the following day.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators said the argument broke out at the Santa Palm Car Wash at 8787 Santa Monica Blvd. and then continued several blocks west to where McKinney was attacked just before 2 p.m. Based on the level of activity at the car wash and on the busy commercial street, detectives believe someone may have heard or seen something that could help the investigation.
The suspect was described as 22 to 38 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build. The vehicle he drove was a dark-colored, 2009- 2010 Mazda 6 four-door sedan.
Security images of the motorist and his car were released at a news conference a year ago at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles.
“I’m just trying to wrap my head around someone taking a life,” the victim’s sister, Denise Key, told reporters then. “(He) didn’t deserve that. He loved everyone.”
Authorities said McKinney was one of seven children and once worked with his father in their family business, but fell on hard times and found himself living without a roof over his head in West Hollywood.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recommended extending a reward, set to expire July 9, in the Willowbrook shooting death of Kejon Atkins.
Late on the morning of July 23, 2015, Atkins, known as Wayne, was walking along the 1800 block of East 126th Street when a gold or silver four- door sedan traveling east crossed into the westbound lanes. As the car approached, a man opened fire through the rear window. Atkins, who was shot in the head, died four days later at St. Francis Medical Center.
Ridley-Thomas said Atkins had been planning to re-enroll in school and get back on the football team in the fall semester.
The gunman was in his late teens to early 20s, with several tattoos on his back. Two or three other men were also believed to have been in the car, which was last seen going west on El Segundo Boulevard. Surveillance cameras captured images of the car as well as a two-tone, maroon/gray SUV, possibly a Pontiac Aztec, which may have been following along.
Ridley-Thomas urged anyone with additional information to call sheriff's homicide Detectives Theodor Baljet or Troy Ewing at 323-890-5500.