19-year-old reportedly shot in Pico neighborhood alley, dies at hospital
A man was shot and killed in an eastside neighborhood Tuesday, making it the year’s first murder in Santa Monica.
While authorities haven’t released the victim’s name, neighbors have identified him only as “Gilanni,” a 19-year-old former Santa Monica High School student who lived with his mother and stepfather, Shirley and Larry Joseph in the 1900 block of 20th Street.
Police are providing little details about the shooting, which occurred at 5:46 p.m. in the alley behind 20th Street between Michigan and Delaware avenues.
David Smith, who lives at 1824 20th St., watched Gilanni collapse after he ran from the alley across 20th Street and fall on the sidewalk. Smith said Gilanni didn’t appear wounded when he ran across the street. But when he approached Gilanni, Smith saw blood coming from his nose and mouth. He immediately ran into his house and called 911.
33E,“He fell right in front of my apartment,” Smith said. “I was shocked.”
“He fell right in front of my apartment. I was shocked.” — — DAVID SMITH Resident
Smith, who had just returned home from work as a sound technician in Hollywood, said he heard what he described as someone beating a broom against a rug. He soon realized it was gunshots and said he heard about four of them. That’s when he ran outside and saw Gilanni running.
Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics arrived on scene within minutes and transported Gilanni to a nearby hospital, where he died just over an hour later. It is unknown what the cause of death was or what his wounds were.
Santa Monica Police Department Lt. Frank Fabrega said police received several calls from residents who heard shots fired. Police closed off 20th Street between Delaware Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, as well as the alley near 20th Street and Delaware Avenue.
728,SMPD homicide detectives were on scene interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence several hours after the shooting. It was reported that bloodhounds were brought to the area in an effort to pick up a scent of the suspect or suspects involved.
At about 8 p.m., police officers were seen hosing off the blood-stained sidewalk.
Fabrega said the investigation is ongoing and was unable at presstime to give further details.
“It’s too preliminary at this time,” he said regarding the details of what happened.
The area, known as the Pico neighborhood, was the scene of five shootings that all occurred in less than a month from May to June. The SMPD arrested eight suspects who were allegedly involved in one or more of the shootings. The charges range from attempted murder to parole violations.
The neighborhood has been riddled with gang violence and drug dealing for decades. Most of the tension is territorial — between the Graveyard Crips and the Santa Monica 17th Street gang — as well as racial. One gang is black, the other Latino.
It is unknown whether Tuesday’s shooting was gang or drug related. Gilanni, who was black, is described by neighbors as a quiet kid who had been “slipping” into the wrong crowd.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting should call the SMPD’s robbery/homicide unit at (310) 458-8451 or the watch commander at (310) 458-8426.
While Tuesday’s shooting marks the city’s first murder this year, Fabrega said serious crimes against persons or property is down 7.7 percent for the first seven months of 2003 and overall arrests are up 12 percent, according to SMPD statistics.
(Daily Press staff writer John Wood contributed to this story.)
Santa Monica Police responded to several calls of shots fired and when they arrived, they found
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2003. Read the original PDF.