Group of women share personal stories as they help South LA family try to find teen's killer

Tuesday, May 1, 2018
3 women jump in to help South LA family find teen's killer
For a group of women, the murder of a 15-year-old in South Los Angeles and helping her family find the killer is personal.

MANCHESTER SQUARE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- For a group of women, the murder of a 15-year-old in South Los Angeles and helping her family find the killer is personal.

"My son was killed at the car wash over some red Chuck Taylors in my face," Jennifer Rivers said.

Her son, 19-year-old Tavin Price, was killed in 2015 allegedly over the color of his shoes. In October 2016, jurors convicted two men for his murder.

Lawanda Hawkins also lost a son.

"My only child being murdered and my sister being murdered - I feel for this family," she said.

Demicha Lofton-Thomas also lost her child two years ago.

"I thank God for waking me up. But it's another day I get to live without my son, so every morning I redie," she said.

Rivers is a founding member of the organization Justice for Murdered Children, and Lofton-Thomas and Hawkins are members.

On Monday night, they stopped traffic to hand out flyers as one way to narrow down the search. Authorities are hunting for a killer who shot Hannah Bell outside of a burger joint on Friday. She was with her mother at the time.

So far, authorities don't believe it was gang related, but don't know if Hannah was targeted or simply unlucky.

"No matter how somebody may cross you - I don't care if they owe you money, looked at you the wrong way, wore green when they should have worn yellow - who gives a heck? Life is too valuable," Hawkins said.

The reward for information that leads to Hannah's killer is at $50,000. The three mothers said if the money doesn't stop the madness - they will.

"You think you're going to keep killing in the community? It's going to stop because it's going to be women like us that's going to stop you," Rivers said.