LOS ANGELES — Family members of a Cal State Northridge student who was shot to death joined Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday to mark the 15th anniversary of the killing by asking for the public’s help in solving the case.
Clifton “Cliff” Hibbert Jr., a 22-year-old aspiring attorney who was about two weeks shy of his college graduation, and his 23-year-old friend, Kenneth Patterson, were killed March 28, 2008, in the 4200 block of South Figueroa Street.
Adrian Gonzalez, commanding officer of the LAPD’s South Bureau Homicide Division, told reporters that police have “no fresh leads to pursue at this time.”
The two young men had gone with friends to the San Fernando Valley for a celebration and were dropped off in South Los Angeles, where one of the friends lived, while their other two friends searched for a place to park. The victims made contact with a male and female who were standing in front of the location and “then the shooting occurs,” Gonzalez said.
The young man’s mother, Donna Brown, said she remembers her last interaction with her son — in which he told her that he loved her — while he was on spring break like “it was yesterday.” She said hearing the “heartbreaking news” of her son’s death “hit me to the core of my being.”
“It was a bullet from a gun in the hands of evil on March the 28th, 2008,” she said. “It’s been 15 years and my son’s case is still unsolved … I’m pleading with the community to take a stand for justice, justice for Cliff, justice for your community, for your loved ones because it takes a village. It takes a village to keep your community safe.”
Hibbert’s sister, Ayanna Parker, said, “It really just feels like it was the other day, unfortunately.”
She called her brother’s killing a “slaughter” and said it is “very heartbreaking” that he wasn’t able to see his dreams fulfilled.
The district…
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