Youth center changing name to honor Becerra
EXPOSITION BLVD. — The family of a Santa Monica man slain over the weekend contend he was well on his way to a better life when he was shot to death.
Jesse Becerra, 24, was walking westbound on 21st Street toward La Brea Avenue at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday when a man ran up to him and shot him multiple times in the back of the head with a.22 caliber handgun.
According to police, Becerra was a member of the Santa Monica 13 gang. While investigators will try to determine whether his death may have been gang-related, family members said Becerra was involved with gangs in the past but turning his life around when he was killed.
Becerra, who lives on the city’s eastern edge, was a Santa Monica native who attended Edison Elementary and John Adams Junior High schools. He graduated from Santa Monica High School in 2000.
Family members said he had many friends.
“Jesse was a good person, he had a big heart and was always smiling and making other people laugh,” said Rebecca Becerra, his sister. “There were a lot of people who really loved him.
“I’m going to miss him.” Family members said Becerra worked at the Santa Monica Civic Center helping to set up for events. For more than a year, Becerra had been involved in a Los Angeles-based group called the Youth Justice Center (YJC), which works to help other gang members find peace in themselves and move away from a criminal lifestyle.
Kim McGill, a YJC organizer, said Becerra volunteered at the center as many as 20 hours per week. A “big bear” who was loved by all, McGill said the six-foot Becerra was a pleasant person. McGill said the YJC, which will soon apply for incorporation, has decided to change its name to the Chuco Youth Center, in honor of Becerra, whose nickname was “Chuco.”
“Jesse was the star around here, an incredibly generous and giving person,” McGill said. “He was the kind of guy who, when he saw a dirty room, he swept it. If someone was hungry and he was eating, Jesse would split his hamburger with him, even if he only had a few pennies.
“I’ve never heard him raise his voice in anger, and the kids loved him.”
Family members said Becerra was a very “hands-on” person who was knowledgeable about computers. They said he could build a lawnmower from scrap.
“He was always working on something,” Rebecca Becerra said.
Becerra’s son, also named Jesse, will remain in the custody of his mother, Sofia Lopez. Becerra and Lopez were separated at the time of his death.
Becerra had a long-term girlfriend, Alexies Price. He is survived by his mother, Rebeca Gonzalez, sisters Rebecca Becerra and Michelle Gonzalez, and a brother, Robert Becerra.
Funeral arrangements are still being made.
Becerra was killed after he left a party, police said. Another man, whose identity hasn’t been released, was shot in the buttocks. He was treated at a local hospital and in stable condition.
Family members said they want Becerra’s killer to be brought to justice. The suspect — described as Hispanic, five feet seven inches tall and 125 pounds — fled the murder scene in a four-door black Lincoln Navigator with tinted windows, police said. The suspect was wearing a pink or orange shirt and baggy pants. He has either a buzz haircut or is bald and clean-shaven.
Detectives had no new information on Monday. Anyone with information is asked to call Los Angeles police Det. Cade or Det. Turriaga at (213) 473-0551.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 27, 2005. Read the original PDF.