A heartbroken mother was mourning her son hours after he was found beaten to death outside a church in Westlake Tuesday night.
In tears, Reina Lazo touched the blood left behind on the pavement where she believed her son died and said, "I told him, 'Don't go out too much because you don't know what's on the street.' He said,' Relax mom, nothing will happen to me.'"
Reina said her son Oscar Lazo, 23, was found on the pavement near the intersection of Rockwood Street and Union Avenue just after 10 p.m. He collapsed just feet from the doors of the Iglesia Ni Cristo Church.
Reina described her son as a "good kid" who was looking for a job. She brought a photo of Oscar and left a flower and candle near chalk outlines at the scene, which likely show his final steps. His friends said he was also a father.
The victim suffered blunt force trauma to the head during an apparent assault, police said.
"It's always disturbing when something like this happens and somebody loses their life. But you see this everyday nearby, it's just disturbing because it's so close," a resident said.
It was unknown what led up to the incident, and there were no indications the assault was gang related, according to investigators.
As of Wednesday morning, detectives didn't have attacker descriptions.
