The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday doubled one homicide reward and renewed another, hoping to find the killers of a high school student gunned down in Palmdale in 2016 and a 20-year-old Pomona man fatally shot in El Monte last year.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended doubling the county’s reward to $20,000 in the case of Jaquarius “Jay” Quinn, who was found shot to death about 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2016, in the 2300 block of Old Harold Road. The Palmdale City Council will also double its contribution to $10,000, for a total of $30,000 offered in exchange for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Detectives said they believe more reward money might convince witnesses to come forward.
Investigators say the teen went out to enjoy an early Sunday dinner with family members who last saw him about 5 p.m. on the day he was killed. Detectives are unsure of a motive for the killing and said it was unclear whether the 17-year-old was shot on the street or pushed out of a vehicle on a desert stretch of roadway.
He was identified when his grandmother came to the sheriff’s station the next day to report him missing.
The R. Rex Parris High School 11th-grader’s hobbies included playing flag football with his friends, drawing, cooking and dancing. He was hoping to become an actor.
At a January news conference at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, authorities and the teen’s family members appealed for help in solving the crime.
“Somebody knows what happened to my son.” said Jessica Quinn, who was wearing a T-shirt with an image of the teen on it. “My son didn’t deserve that. He was a kid; I mean, a child. How do you take a kid’s life like that? … I just want justice.”
Barger said his family “deserves to know that Jay’s killer is held responsible. It is my hope that this reward will help someone remember something that may be helpful in finally bringing justice to the Quinn family.”
Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended renewing a $10,000 reward in the shooting of Fabian Garcia Barajas, who was shot in the back shortly after midnight last April 3. The reward was set to expire March 3 but will now be available for at least another 90 days.
Family members said the young man usually drove straight home after his shift as a machine operator in Walnut ended about midnight. On the night he was killed, he drove between an area off the Pomona (60) Freeway and Lemon Avenue to a cul-de-sac on Gilman Road and Valley Boulevard.
“Fabian was stopped at the end of the cul-de-sac when, detectives believe, a `walk-up’ shooting occurred as Fabian was seated in the driver’s seat of his vehicle,” according to Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez.
The mortally wounded motorist’s white sedan was found crashed into the front metal security gate of a business park.
Authorities released a composite sketch in May of a “person of interest” in the case. He was described as Hispanic, 25-30 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 160-170 pounds. He wore a black Los Angeles Dodgers cap and a black jacket.
At a news conference last May, Fabian Barajas Sr. said his son was a car, motorcycle and video games enthusiast. He lived with his mother and worked in Walnut to help support his family.
When talking about whoever killed his only son, Barajas Sr. said, “This person is an animal. He’s not a human being, he’s an animal, and I’m not afraid to say it.”
Barger and Solis asked anyone with additional information on either homicide to call sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joe Mendoza at (323) 890-5564 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).