3 to stand trial in South L.A. killing of 19-year-old over his red shoes

A judge Friday ordered three men to stand trial
for the killing of a 19-year-old who was shot
outside a South Los Angeles carwash last
summer over the color of his red shoes.
Kanasho Johns, 28; Dwight Kevin Smith, 30; and
Kevin Deon Johnson, 25, will be arraigned on
murder charges later this month in connection
with the shooting death of Tavin Price, Los
Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar ordered.
Price was at a carwash in Hyde Park about 11
a.m. on May 29 when he went to a nearby smoke
shop to buy a soda and was confronted by two
men who asked about his gang affiliation
because he was wearing red shoes, authorities
said.
A woman who had been inside the shop told
investigators that Price was asked why he had
“all that red on” shortly before the shooting,
according to testimony by Los Angeles police Det.
Eric Crosson.
The detective said the woman told police that

Price responded, “I don't gang bang,” and that she
told the man to leave Price alone because he was
mentally disabled.
Authorities said Price ignored the men and walked
back to his mother and a family friend who were
finishing up at the carwash. As Price stood in
front of his mother, Jennifer Rivers, he was shot,
police said.
After the three men were charged with murder
last summer, Rivers told reporters that she goes
to the Inglewood Park Cemetery each day to visit
her son's grave. She said she still hears in her
mind her wounded son asking her if he was going
to make it.
“He didn’t deserve to be murdered right in
front of my face,” she said at the time.
Antheyst Jarrett, 27, who was arrested in
connection with the killing, plead no contest to a
charge of preventing or dissuading a witness
from reporting a crime last fall and was
sentenced to seven years in state prison,
according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles
County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors allege that the crime was committed
for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
The men will be arraigned Jan. 29.