REWARD OFFERED IN SLAYING.Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Devonshire Station detectives on Thursday announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of anyone involved in the Sept. 8 shooting death of a man outside a grocery story. Melisio Lopez Martinez, 27, died after a barrage of bullets was fired by one of two males caught on surveillance tape outside the Ralphs store at Balboa Balboa, town (1990 pop. 2,751), Colón prov., in the former Panama Canal Zone, on the Gulf of Panama. The port for Panama City, Balboa was the administrative headquarters of the Panama Canal Zone. It was also the site of a U.S. navy base (closed 1999). Boulevard and Devonshire Street, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Police Detective Mike Oppelt said. Police said they have photos of two of four suspects who confronted Martinez at the store, where he had gone with his wife, Nina, and two brothers to buy beer for a family barbecue barbecue [West Indian or South American], in the United States, traditionally an open-air gathering, political or social, in which meats are roasted whole over a pit of embers and food and drink are liberally enjoyed. . One of the men was wearing a thigh-length yellow shirt with a dark stripe stripe - data striping across the chest; the other was wearing a Hawaiian floral-print shirt that was dark with white blotches, Oppelt said. Police said the group of males with gang affiliations exchanged words with Martinez in the store and, despite Martinez's efforts to avert trouble, the shooting erupted outside, police said. ``He did what he could to defuse de·fuse tr.v. de·fused, de·fus·ing, de·fus·es 1. To remove the fuse from (an explosive device). 2. To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile: the situation,'' Oppelt said. Martinez had been barbecuing bar·be·cue n. 1. A grill, pit, or outdoor fireplace for roasting meat. 2. a. A whole animal carcass or section thereof roasted or broiled over an open fire or on a spit. b. with family members at the home of his parents in Granada Hills that day before he left with his wife and his two brothers - 15-year-old Tom and 24-year-old Isidro - for the store, his family said. Once inside, four males walked up to Martinez asking, ``What's up?'' and showing gang tattoos, family members said. Martinez tried to be polite and avoid confrontation, but the suspects began exchanging words again. Martinez, anticipating possible trouble, sent his brother Tom to the car. The family left their items and walked out of the store, they said. However, Martinez was shot as he walked out, and Nina Martinez said she cradled her husband in her arms begging him, ``Don't go, don't go.'' Police said the tattoos on Martinez - which were not gang-associated - may have been the reason the gang members questioned him. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call either Oppelt or LAPD Devonshire Division detectives Orlando Martinez at (818) 756-8291 during the day or the station after business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a at (818) 756-8283. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Nina Martinez, widow of slain Melisio Martinez, and her late husband's brother, Isidro, ask for help in finding the killers, who approached the family in a Ralphs market. (2 -- 3) Police drawings show two of the gangsters who gunned down Melisio Martinez. Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer |
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