Kody Townsend, son of South LA violence prevention leader Skipp Townsend, was charged Friday afternoon with the murder of Reginald Foreman, a community activist who was working for the elder Townsend’s nonprofit, 2nd Call.
The charges come after Skipp Townsend was arrested on Wednesday outside a 2nd Call office, sending shockwaves through South LA’s violence prevention community. A spokesperson for the LA County District Attorney’s Office said late Friday afternoon that no other charges are being filed for anyone else on the case. Attorney Fre’Drisha Dixon, who said she represents Skipp Townsend, said he was released from custody.
“There was never any reason for him to have been questioned or held in relation to any crime,” Dixon said.
The district attorney’s office on Friday afternoon announced the murder charges against 19-year-old Kody Townsend, alleging he shot and killed Foreman on Aug. 6. They also charged Jeremiah Abdelhameed with accessory after the fact for allegedly helping Townsend avoid capture.
Foreman, 51, was working on a streetscape project for 2nd Call when he was shot and killed. District Attorney Nathan Hochman alleged in a press release that he and Kody Townsend had ties to rival neighborhood gangs, though Foreman was reformed.
“This kind of violence has no place in our communities and will not be tolerated,” Hochman wrote.
Those who knew Foreman say he was a warm, dedicated man, rich in spirit, who worked for years to redirect his life after seeing people around him die. Skipp Townsend told The LA Local in August that his death cut deep. He’d known Foreman for three decades and worked alongside him to broker some neighborhood peace agreements before hiring him at 2nd Call.
“He was a really good person,” Skipp Townsend told The LA Local in August. “I was grateful I got to spend the last two months of his life with him.”
Najee Ali, a community activist who worked with the elder Townsend for three decades, said he was shocked and saddened by the allegations against Kody Townsend, but also angry that Skipp Townsend was arrested in the first place.
“Anyone who knows Skipp realizes he would never help orchestrate anyone’s murder,” Ali said.
Skipp Townsend’s arrest by the LA Police Department officers on Wednesday morning rattled South LA after video surfaced on social media of him being escorted to a police vehicle outside the group’s offices on Obama Boulevard.
An LAPD spokesperson said Townsend was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime. He was booked into a county jail in Van Nuys on Wednesday, according to records.
“This has created shock waves throughout our community,” Ali said the day after the arrest. Ali has worked alongside Townsend for three decades. “This is not the Skipp Townsend we know. We’re just waiting to see what evidence is presented.”
Ali said workers at 2nd Call, where he sometimes consults, told him police raided the nonprofit’s offices on Wednesday and took a modem from a computer.
