A 66-year-old homeless man who was found fatally stabbed under a freeway underpass in Echo Park had been featured in a Los Angeles Times article in June on a city plan to crack down on homeless encampments, according to the newspaper.

Charles Smith was found about 11 a.m. Monday under the Hollywood (101) Freeway underpass at Alvarado Street, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Ray Martinez told The Times.

Smith, who had survived a stabbing in April, was an Air Force veteran who told the newspaper that the underpass was “like a home away from home” for which he abandoned an apartment the government had secured for him in Baldwin Hills.

Anyone with information about Smith’s killing was urged to call Martinez at (213) 484-3642.

After-hours and weekend calls should be directed to (877) LAPD-24-7. Anonymous tips can be provided by calling Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

— City News Service

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