South LA property owner speaks out after officials call her building a hotspot for a violent street gang

Tamika King, who goes by Nina Roza, was left in awe when she learned police labeled her apartment complex as one of the most dangerous gang hotspots in South Los Angeles. 

"Very surprised I got a lot of phone calls saying your property is on the news, your name is on the news," said Roza, whose family has owned the building for more than 40 years.

In a nuisance abatement lawsuit filed against her and her children last week, the city claimed that Roza's six-unit apartment building at 678 41st Street was a base for a violent gang in South L.A. 

In February, police searched a vacant apartment, allegedly being used by the gang as a stash spot, and found several firearms, 300 rounds of ammunition, 15 magazines and cocaine. According to City Attorney Mike Feuer's office, authorities also found a gambling machine, a pool table and a stripper pole inside the apartment. 

"Too often unscrupulous landlords and operators perpetuate the violence by their refusal to take responsibility for appropriate preventive and protective measures," LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in a statement.  

In a news conference last week, Feuer and Moore accused Roza of not doing her part to get rid of the crime near her area.

"The allegations in our complaint involve nuisance activity directly tied to this property," Feuer said. "We tried working with property ownership before filing the lawsuit without success. Nevertheless, we hope to work with the Defendants to end the alleged gang and gun violence connected to this property which is less than 1,000 feet from two elementary schools and two public parks."

However, Roza said the authorities were not telling the whole story. Roza said that the apartment has remained vacant for months following the search by police. Since then, she has been working with the City Attorney's office to remedy the issue. 

"When they made me aware of the situation, that they found guns, those people have been removed," she said. 

"This wasn't filed last week," she said. "They made it seem like it was filed last week. I don't know if it was some type of political motive to put it in the press last week."

Roza said she has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars remodeling her apartment complex. She hoped to make it a nice place for people to live.

She added that her building is not what authorities make it out to be. According to Roza, she has housed more than 50 women and children here in the homeless program.

"If it weren't for her, me and my kids would have been on the street with nowhere to go," said one father living in the complex.

Roza has also offered her event space for a service remembering the six people who died in the Windsor Hills crash.

"She allowed us to have the repass at her venue," said Nicole Moore, whose cousin was killed in the deadly crash. "She was very gracious, didn't charge us anything."

Despite her efforts to improve the well-being of people in her neighborhood, crime has continued to happen in the area. The LAPD responded to a drive-by shooting in front of the building, where a person who was found with a gunshot wound to the hand was identified as someone who was arrested there a year earlier for possession of a military-grade assault rifle. In May of 2020, a tenant reported she and her children threw themselves to the floor of their second-floor apartment after hearing shots fired from 41st Street, and finding her window broken and drywall damaged by a bullet.

Roza blamed the lack of resources in the area for perpetuating the crime in the neighborhood.

"These kids want something to do," she said. "There's no outlet. There's no resources for these kids... The only thing promised to these kids is death and jail."

She called on officials to help her fix the problems in her community. 

"Help me with some resources to help these kids help themselves," she said. 

Many others have come to her defense saying crime in the area was an inherited issue.

"She inherited this problem," said neighbor Malik Spellman. "It's not like they started gang banging when this building came. It's not gangbanging its poverty."