A $50,000 reward was announced Thursday for information leading to the shooter who opened fire on a group of people standing outside a barbershop in South Los Angeles last month, leaving a 27-year-old man dead.
The victim was Robert Ellis, who according to his mother, had announced to his family he was going to be a father just two days before he was killed.
Ellis was outside the barbershop in the 5500 block of South Vermont Avenue in the afternoon of March 25 when the gunman opened fire on the group with a semi-automatic handgun, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
At a Thursday morning press conference, detectives released surveillance video showing the gunman in a hooded sweatshirt apparently crouching behind a blue car before the surprise attack. Most in the group ran for cover. Police believe the gunman was not targeting someone specifically, but the shooting was gang-motivated.
People who know Ellis said he was not a gang member. His mother, Lenell Ellis, said he was training to be a barber, loved sports and was well-liked.
"If he (the shooter) only knew him, he would have not did that," Ellis' mother said. "It actually makes me really sad that we live in a society that people think it’s OK to take s life."
Anyone with information was asked to call the LAPD.
