$10K Reward Offered In Murder Of Man Hoping To Play For D-Fenders Team
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A $10,000 reward was offered Wednesday for information in the killing of a promising basketball player who had his sights set on a professional career.
Wendell Lee Jr., 25, was fatally shot at about 11:45 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2015. Authorities say Lee was standing with a friend in front of a home in the 12200 block of Elva Avenue, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles, when a car pulled up. A man got out of the driver's side rear passenger door and shot Lee several times with an assault-style rifle, before getting back into the car, which fled south on Elva Avenue.
Lee, who was raised in the Gardena area, was an avid basketball player, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. After high school, he attended El Camino College and then transferred to Colorado State Pueblo, where he played collegiate basketball.
Lee graduated from Colorado State and was visiting the Los Angeles area for the purpose of attending a tryout for the Lakers' D-League team, the D-Fenders, when he was murdered.
The shooter was described a black man between 20 and 28 years old, between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10. The suspect vehicle was described as a silver 2003-2007 Saturn Vue, "Redline" edition.
Anyone with information about the suspects, the vehicle or the shooting can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
