California

Man's 2015 Murder Caught on Video in South LA

Deontra Gant Jr. died on that Saturday morning, June 20, 2015, in a pool of blood outside an apartment complex in South LA.

Surveillance video captured the moments leading up to the shooting that killed Deontra Gant Jr.

It caught two angles of a car pulling up to a man talking on a cellphone. When three men exit the vehicle, the man on the cellphone starts running. Then two men pull guns and start to shoot -- the flash of the shots lighting up the screen. 

Gant died on that Saturday morning, June 20, 2015, in a pool of blood outside an apartment complex near 1500 W. Vernon Ave in South Los Angeles. 

His case would be added to the growing list of unsolved murders that month that to this day remains an open investigation. Deontra's mother says she's moved beyond her anger over what happened to her son.

"When you have faith in the Lord," Linda Huff says, holding back tears. "You can't hold a grudge against anyone, so I feel like I let the Lord handle it."

LAPD South Bureau Criminal Gang Homicide Detective Stacey Szymkowiak says the street was busy that night with vehicles driving by and a corner seafood restaurant cooking on a flat grill on the corner. And yet very few people have come forward to help provide clues into who was behind the murder and why.

"There were some people on the street that night, at about that same time. But up to this point, we just have not gotten any good leads on who these individuals were," she says.

In the video, Gant appears to be deep in conversation but when he realizes what's about to happen, he makes a run for it. His younger sister says she knew she was about to receive bad news that night when he didn't return home from a simple walk to the corner market.

"Just because you walk out the door there's no guarantee you're gonna come back," sister Herneisha Thomas said. "And then detectives call? It's not good."

Shanell Scott was about to marry Gant, they had three kids together.

"It just hurt a lot of people in the end, my children, my step children," she said, but also saying she thinks the killers may feel some anguish as well.

"I just think that they suffering more too because you guys know you killed an innocent man," she said. "The streets talk so they know."

But it may be the innocent words of Gant's eldest child that speaks mounds for the whole family.

"I love him so much," 8-year-old Chanell says of her dad. "We all had a good time with him. We used to have fun. And we used to be happy."

The family is hoping to find justice in Gant's murder, that detectives will find those involved and that a jury of 12 will punish them.

Police described the men who got out of the car as black men between the ages of 25 and 35.

"I think they should pay for it because my brother was carried by 6," Thomas said.

A $50,000 reward is on the line for information leading to the killers' arrest and conviction. Police are hoping someone will also help find the vehicle used to commit to the crime.

Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Division at 323-786-5113. Callers can remain anonymous and still cash in on the reward money.

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