TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say a man was fatally shot by his brother during a weekend family birthday celebration in South Los Angeles.
Los Angeles police Lt. Jeff Nolte said Derrick Hill, 48, was killed by his brother Louis Hill on Saturday shortly before 9 p.m. on the 800 block of E. 78th Street.
Louis Hill hasn’t been arrested, Nolte said. He said police are interviewing him and don’t know if the shooting was accidental.
“What we know now is that his brother, Louis Hill, shot Derrick Hill. What we don’t know is why,” Nolte said. “We don’t know if it’s accidental, we don’t know if there’s a motive behind it, (and) if there is a motive if it’s criminal.”
Mother Doris Hill said the family was celebrating her granddaughter’s ninth birthday with ice cream and cake when Louis ran in and said he’d been jumped on the corner.
His big brother Derrick went out to see what happened and the family next heard a gunshot. She said someone else shot Derrick once in the head. Doris Hill said neighbors told police that it was her son Louis Hill who shot his brother, but that she didn’t believe it and was headed to the police station Sunday to talk to officers.
Derrick lived with his mother at the address and knew everyone in the area, Doris Hill said, which is why he went out to check on things.
“He was a nice person, he was a people person, he was a mama’s boy,” Doris Hill said.
Nolte said investigators do not believe gang-related activity is involved.
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