Kody Ryan Cook was 18 when he was shot and killed in Gardena, California, on June 26, 2015. Officers answered reports of shots fired around 1:24 p.m. and found Cook in the driver’s seat of his gray BMW sedan with multiple gunshot wounds to his face and throat; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

About 30 minutes before the shooting Cook and a male friend had a brief verbal exchange with a group of young people in their neighborhood. Cook drove away, but roughly 20 minutes later, as he was parking near the Good Neighbor 99 Center Store and Baskin-Robbins on Crenshaw Boulevard, two young men from that earlier encounter confronted Cook and his friend. One produced a small-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired multiple rounds into the car; the assailants then fled in a nearby vehicle. Cook’s friend was unharmed.

On July 6, 2015, two 17-year-old boys from Gardena were arrested; one was charged with murder and the other with being an accessory after the fact. Both pleaded not guilty and had a juvenile court date set for August 11, 2015. Kody attended El Camino College, studied psychology, and performed with a music group under the name Lecturre. Does anyone who knew Kody or saw activity in that Crenshaw Boulevard parking area on June 26 have information to share?