Robert Ornelas Gonzales, a 41-year-old Latino man, was shot and killed the evening of December 4, 2010, in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. The shooting took place at an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Murchison Street (identified in records as 1592 Murchison Street). Officers from the LAPD Hollenbeck Area responded to a radio call about a possible armed suspect or suspects at about 7 p.m. and found Gonzales with gunshot wounds; coroner information shows he was struck in both the back and chest. He was taken to a hospital and died roughly 35 minutes after the shooting.

Gonzales was born in Los Angeles on August 30, 1969, lived in La Habra, and worked as a plumber for about 14 years. He left behind his wife Melissa; five children, Audrey, Robert, Isaac, Jacob and Jeremiah; a granddaughter, Samantha; and his mother, siblings and other relatives. Detectives from the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division handled the case but reported very few leads in the days afterward, with no description or identity of a suspect publicly disclosed and no established motive. Did anyone in Boyle Heights that night see something that could help identify who approached Gonzales?