Eddie Charles Talley II, a 65-year-old Compton resident, was fatally shot in his home on the 600 block of West Palmer Avenue on September 28, 2018. The same shooting also killed his 13-year-old stepdaughter, Britney Malone, and seriously injured his wife, Katherine Evans. The episode grew out of a domestic dispute that escalated into violence after an argument over the use of a car involving Talley’s 43-year-old son, James Jajuan Williams, who lived in the household.

Talley had called Evans’ son at work to come home because Williams was acting erratically; shortly afterward dispatchers heard shouting and glass breaking before the line went dead. Deputies found Williams standing naked outside the house with some blood on him; he was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then arrested. Williams was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, with special-circumstance allegations including multiple murders and firearm use. He later pleaded no contest and was sentenced to life without parole on January 27, 2020.

Talley was remembered as a lifelong Compton resident and a standout high school football athlete. Was anyone in the neighborhood aware of tensions in the household before that September day?