Deadly fourth

By Stephen Oduntan

and Emilie St. John

Contributing Writers

COMPTON — Hundreds of mourners gathered outside the Compton Courthouse July 6, raising candles in honor of two victims of violence as families pleaded for answers and community leaders called for an end to the violence.

They were there in honor of Eric Washington and Meah Bordenave-Jenkins, who were killed when gunfire erupted during a Fourth of July block party in the 700 block of West Laurel Street.

About 40 minutes later, a separate shooting roughly two miles away on North Grandee Avenue claimed the life of 38-year-old Thaddeus Clark and wounded another man.

Washington, 37, was a longtime community leader whose work spanned public service, youth advocacy and neighborhood engagement throughout Watts and Compton, and who served as community engagement manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.

Bordenave-Jenkins, 19, was a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who hoped to become a nurse.

“My daughter was going to UNLV to be a nurse,” said Ebone Jenkins, Bordenave-Jenkins’ mother. “She had a dream to be a travel nurse for neonatal. She was full of life, very compassionate, in the church, very giving.

“My daughter was one of the most sweet, compassionate, friendly, smart people that you could ever come across in your life.

“My daughter had a plan,” Jenkins added. “She knew exactly what it is she wanted to do in life.”

Ebone Jenkins’ daughter, Kayla, said the family’s grief was compounded by the frantic search for answers after the shooting. She said relatives drove from hospital to hospital before learning what had happened and later viewed social media videos she said appeared to show people stepping over — and even twerking near — her sister’s body.

“My sister did not deserve that,” Jenkins said. “She wasn’t affiliated with nothing. There was nothing negative about my Meah.”

For Tina Johnson, the outpouring of support at the July 6 vigil revealed a side of her son she never fully understood while he was alive.

“I didn’t even know how much my baby was loved until now,” she told the crowd. “He loved the seniors. He loved the babies. Please, you guys, take care of each other.”

Washington also served as a deputy to Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Gardena, and former Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

Compton Mayor Emma Sharif told mourners the city stood with all three grieving families while investigators worked to identify those responsible.

“We are here today to make sure the families understand that the city is standing with them,” Sharif said.

She called Washington and Bordenave-Jenkins “two young people [who] really had a great future ahead of them” and said the city would continue supporting their families while encouraging investigators to move the case forward as quickly as possible.

But many speakers said justice would require more than arrests.

Nation of Islam Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid challenged residents to confront violence within their own neighborhoods with the same urgency often shown after high-profile incidents involving law enforcement.

“When is Black life going to matter to us?” he asked. “It’s time for us now to stand up and take care of our young brothers.”

Sayyid said churches, civic organizations and community members must become more directly involved in neighborhoods affected by violence.

“The church has to go to the hood,” he said.

Ryan Richard, president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.’s Iota Zeta Lambda Chapter, said Washington embodied the fraternity’s commitment to scholarship, leadership and service.

“Eric wasn’t just a person who cared about his own community,” Richard said. “He cared about everyone in the community.”

Richard urged mourners to continue Washington’s work.

“We cannot let this be the last time we say his name,” he said.

Community violence intervention leaders said the shootings also underscored the need to invest not only in law enforcement but in neighborhood-based violence prevention.

Donny Joubert, president of the Watts Gang Task Force, said Washington understood that preventing violence often begins long before police are called.

“We’re proactive,” Joubert said. “Law enforcement is reactive. We get in front of it before it happens. We don’t want nobody hurt.”

Joubert said Washington remained deeply involved in community work despite advancing professionally, regularly attending task force meetings and staying connected to the neighborhood.

“He never changed,” Joubert said. “He stayed supporting the community at all times.”

Veteran gang interventionist Skipp Townsend, who gave Washington his first professional opportunity after college, said no criminal prosecution could restore what had been taken from Washington’s family.

“Justice for me looks like there [will] never be another one,” Townsend said. “This one we can’t take back.”

Townsend recalled that Washington’s godmother had asked him to take the recent Grambling State University graduate on as an intern. After a strong interview, Townsend said he was ready to bring him aboard.

“The first thing he asked me was, ‘What’s the pay?’” Townsend recalled with a laugh. “I thought an internship meant he was going to work for free.”

Townsend hired him anyway as an administrative assistant on the Jordan Downs redevelopment project, where Washington began building relationships with community leaders and elected officials that helped launch his career in public service. Washington later joined housing authority as an intern in 2019, returned to the agency in 2022 as a community relations specialist and ultimately became its community engagement manager.

“He was a great brother. Very humble. No nonsense, but also no violence in him,” Townsend said.

“Eric served as my field deputy in Watts, and there was no one more dedicated to that community,” Buscaino wrote on his official social media account. “Every single day, he showed up ready to make Watts a better place — not because it was his job, but because it was his calling.

“He believed in that community with his whole heart, and he backed that belief up with action, year after year.

“Eric was so much more than a colleague,” Buscaino added. “He was a son, brother, cousin, uncle, nephew, friend, mentor, and peacemaker. He was a trailblazer and a public servant in the truest sense of the word.

“It was an honor to work alongside him. My former team and I are shaken to our core by this senseless, tragic loss. Eric spent his life trying to bring peace to his community, and it is almost unbearable that peacekeeping is what cost him his life.”

Gipson also shared glowing remarks on the impact Washington had on the community.

“Serving families with grace and pride was fitting work for a son of South Los Angeles and Compton — a member of the Alpha Pi Alpha fraternity — and an incredible protégé and friend,” Gipson said. “He was extraordinarily talented, a passionate and focused man who loved the community, gave his heart and soul for the people, and put them first.

“I am grieving — devastated by the loss and murder of this great young person,” Gipson continued. “He tried everything possible to save Black and brown boys in our community, especially against gun violence, and I am dismayed that what he fought against took his life.

“It is no surprise that during the moment of this terrible act, Eric was trying to save a community by preventing a situation that would have taken lives. This bravery cost him his own life.”

Friends of Washington said he was attempting to de-escalate a situation when the gunfire began.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, several hundred people were attending a block party on Laurel Street when the first shooting occurred. and someone may have witnessed critical information or captured photos or video that could assist investigators. Even the smallest detail could help solve one or both cases.”

The second shooting occurred about 12:10 a.m. in the 2100 block of North Grandee Avenue. Thaddeus Clark, 38, was killed.

Compton Mayor Emma Sharif met with the families of the victim’s after the vigil and said “violence has no place in Compton.”

“My heartfelt condolences go out to the families, friends and loved ones of the three individuals who lost their lives in the recent shootings in our community,” Sharif said.

Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau and the Compton Sheriff’s Station are urging anyone with information or video of either shooting incident to please contact investigators at (323) 890-5500.

Stephen Oduntan and Emilie St. John are freelance writers for Wave Newspapers.