Community Leaders Decry Black on Black Crime, Want Justice

Residents in Lancaster are taking a stand against violence after a deadly incident last week that left one man dead.

Michael Davis was gunned down June 26 in broad daylight by a man he confronted who he thought ran over his dog. When Davis asked the man to help pay the vet bill, the man opened fire and shot Davis at least six times, neighbors said.

Community members are calling the shooting "senseless" and "reckless."

The father in his 20s was left to die in a parking lot in front of an apartment complex in the 600 block of East Avenue H-14.

Witnesses said the gunman was a black male in his early 20s, who possibly drove away in a black pickup truck.

Through tears, Yolanda Davis talked about her son, Michael, whom she said loved dirt bikes, playing with his child and his dog.

"For him to be gunned down like this is just wrong," she said. "If you was coward enough to kill my son, be man enough to turn yourself in."

Members of the Community Action League, along with members of the Nation of Islam decried the shooting Thursday during a news conference and said black on black crime needed to stop. A reference to "black lives matter" was used and suggested that the quote also needed to extend to the kind of violence that killed Michael as much as any other.

"We cannot point our finger at white people, we cannot point our finger at nobody when we are doing this to ourselves," Ansar Muhammad said, from the Community Action League.

Pharah Mitchell, also from the Community Action League, called the shooter a "coward."

"Too many of us are being targeted this way, by our own," he said.

Dressed in familiar Nation of Islam garb, some speakers claimed steps were already underway to find Michael's killer, who remains at large. Steps that were outside of the murder investigation already being conducted by Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives.

Muhammad said calls were made to what he called "The Gang Element" in Los Angeles, to identify the shooter and bring him to justice.

"The leadership is gonna get him and check him and force him to turn himself in," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 323-890-5500.