Community activists call for end to violence after Lancaster man killed over dog

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- Community leaders issued a call to the public Friday to end black-on-black violence and bring the gunman who fatally shot a Lancaster man over a dog to justice.

"Seven days a week, black men are toting pistols and killing one another. We are here to patrol and protect our community. We're asking for this perpetrator to turn himself in immediately," Ansar Stan Muhammad with the Antelope Valley Chapter of the Nation of Islam said at a Monday news conference.

The appeal comes after the shooting death of 22-year-old Michael Davis, who was murdered last week following a dispute with a driver who ran over his poodle in the parking lot of his Lancaster apartment community.

Family members say Davis pleaded with the driver to help pay for a portion of medical expenses to care for the severely injured animal, who eventually died. They say the man left, came back with a gun, exchanged a few words with Davis, before shooting him half a dozen times.

"My son wasn't no gang banger. He wasn't no thug. He wasn't out on the street. Anybody can tell you, he loved dirt bikes. He loved kids. For him to be gunned down like this is wrong," Yolanda Davis said.

The senseless murder has activists demanding change.

"You were scared enough, coward enough to pick up a gun and shoot somebody, but you are not man enough to turn yourself in," community activist Pharaoh Mitchell said. "Too many of us are being targeted this way by our own people."

Detectives are on the hunt for the gunman. Anyone with information is asked to call Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or (800) 222-8477.