Father of NBA player Richard Jefferson killed in Compton drive-by shooting
Richard Jefferson, the father of veteran NBA player Richard Jefferson, was killed this week in a drive-by shooting in Compton, authorities said.
The elder Jefferson, 65, was fatally shot shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 600 block of West Peach Street, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A resident of Inglewood, Jefferson was standing on the corner at West Peach Street and Paulsen Avenue. A dark-colored vehicle carrying several male occupants approached, and at least one person inside the car opened fire, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Jefferson was shot several times in the torso. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives are still piecing together the motive of the shooting and did not release a description of the suspects. The investigators asked anyone with information about the slaying to contact the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
The younger Jefferson, 38, has played in the NBA for 17 years, and in 2016 won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last season he played for the Denver Nuggets. He was born in Los Angeles but told an interviewer that when he was 7, his mom moved him and his two brothers to Arizona.
“We were living in South Central during the crack epidemic. I was born in 1980, so when we moved in 1987, it was right at the height of it,” he said. The family relocated to Arizona “and started a new life,” he said.
He completed high school in Phoenix and attended the University of Arizona.
Twitter: @MattHjourno
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