Police are offering $20,000 for information that can help solve the 2018 murder of former NBA player Richard Jefferson’s father in Compton.
Sixty-five-year-old Richard Allen Jefferson was gunned down in a drive-by shooting as he and a group of other men were standing around talking on the 1400 block of Paulson Avenue, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Patricia Thomas said Tuesday during a news conference announcing the reward money.
“Based on the information, it appears Mr. Jefferson was an innocent bystander killed in a senseless act of violence. Mr. Jefferson was killed for no reason other than he was being friendly and having a conversation with a few other males that lived in the neighborhood,” Thomas said.
Detectives believe the people in the vehicle who shot at the group were gang members from another neighborhood who mistakenly thought Jefferson and the other men were rival gang members. In fact, neither Jefferson nor the other men had ever been involved in gangs, Thomas said.
Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.
Deputies found Jefferson on the ground with several gunshot wounds. Firefighters treated him at the scene and rushed him to a hospital, where he later died.
“Richard was a brother, he was a son, he was a father, he was a grandfather who was very much loved,” Jefferson’s brother said.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
The victim was the father of Richard Jefferson, who played for several teams over a 17-year NBA career and won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
The latest $20,000 reward is not the first time police have offered money to help solve the murder. They offered $10,000 in 2020.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the LASD’s Homicide Bureau 323-890-5500 or Crimestoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
City News Service contributed to this story.
