Dennis RomeroFriends and family of high school football star Jamiel Shaw planned to mark the third anniversary of the 17-year-old's death with a candlelight vigil at the Mid-City site of his shooting by an area gang member.
The college hopeful was a student at Los Angeles High School when he was gunned down outside 2136 Fifth Ave., allegedly by an 18th Street Gang who was in the country illegally.
That last twist led to …
… efforts to create “Jamiel's Law,” a failed city ballot initiative in 2009 that would have allowed cops in L.A. to stop and arrest people simply on suspicion of being undocumented. Such legislation could have sent suspect Pedro Espinoza south of the border before he allegedly killed, Shaw's family has argued.
As it stands, the LAPD's Special Order 40 prevents officers from stopping people solely to check out their immigration status.
Despite at least some evidence that Shaw showed affinity for the rival African-American set known as the Second Avenue Bloods Gang, his slaying has been upheld as the story of a promising boy in the hood who was cut down by illegal immigration gone wild.
Here's what Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at his funeral:
Jamiel Shaw represented the hope and opportunity of so many young people in our city. He was not only a star athlete, he was a star human being as well.
Shaw's talent on the football field had recruiters from Stanford and Rutgers looking at him.
Althea Rae Shaw.; Credit: altheashaw.com
His aunt, Althea Rae Shaw, is running for City Council in the 10th district and has used Shaw's death as an issue. Her website proclaims, “Althea is determined to make something good come from this injustice.”
The candlelight vigil starts at 5:30 p.m.
-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.
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