To the editor: The Los Angeles Times reported on April 23 that on April 20, Bang Cho, an 84-year-old dementia patient wandering in downtown L.A., was punched and kicked in the head, slammed to the ground and set on fire. Cho did not survive. His murder occurred a block from my condominium in front of the dry cleaner I use.
Police arrested Lavonta Wilder for this attack. Wilder is a 240-pound homeless man with “multiple felony convictions for violent crimes.”
The Times’ touted decrease in L.A.’s homicide rate changes nothing for Cho or, for that matter, for Wilder (“L.A. is safer than it’s been in decades, but crime is an issue dominating the mayor’s race,” May 24). It means nothing to me. For many of us in downtown L.A., the city “has turned into a dystopian hellscape.” Public safety is very definitely, very much on voters’ minds.
James Moore, Los Angeles
