Eula Mae Love, a 39-year-old African-American mother and widow, was shot and killed on January 3, 1979, in the front yard of her West Athens home in South Los Angeles. The incident began when a Southern California Gas Company worker arrived to shut off her service over an overdue $66 bill. Love attacked that worker with a shovel; he fled and called police. After briefly leaving to try to raise money, she returned to find additional utility workers at the house and went inside to retrieve an 11-inch boning knife.

Officers Lloyd O’Callaghan and Edward Hopson of the Los Angeles Police Department arrived and ordered Love to drop the knife. She did not comply and tossed the knife in the officers’ direction. The officers fired twelve shots; eight struck Love, and she died at the scene. The Los Angeles County District Attorney ruled on April 17, 1979, that the officers acted in self-defense, while the Los Angeles Police Commission later found the officers exercised poor judgment and that the shooting did not meet departmental standards. The decision to exonerate the officers remained in place.

The shooting sparked protests and helped drive changes in LAPD deadly-force procedures. Does anyone have firsthand memories of the protests or details about the community response in West Athens at that time?