Mourners Pay Respects to Slain Monroe Student

About 250 mourners gathered at a San Fernando church Saturday to pay their respects to Ricky R. Evans Jr., the 15-year-old Monroe High School student who was shot to death Nov. 21 after a football game.

Friends and family filled the Parks Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church to remember the Panorama City youth. During the service, conducted by the church pastor, Jordan Davis, several people who were close to Evans eulogized him fondly, calling him a lover of music and sports who enjoyed spending time with friends and relatives and joking with his two sisters. His older sister Travina told how Ricky made her laugh the day before his death when he joked about his career goals. She said he told her he wanted to become the first black president, or be a firefighter, or be a stripper dressed as a firefighter.

Evans, who played the drums for a drill team and a church choir, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Aqueduct Avenue, where he and a group of friends were walking after the game, police said. As of Saturday afternoon, police had not made an arrest in the slaying.

Authorities said the killing appeared to have been gang-related, and might have been carried out by spiteful fans from Crenshaw High, which lost the game to Monroe.

Police said that just before the shooting a white Cadillac with one headlight out pulled alongside Evans and his friends, and that someone from the car yelled, “Where are you from?”

The teens did not respond, and someone in the car yelled “Crenshaw!” before shots rang out.

After the service, Evans was buried at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Santa Clarita.