Jimmie John Paredes was 71 years old when he died on Saturday, June 5, 2021, in Compton. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near South Gibson Avenue and East Rose Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 71-year-old Latino male" who "died Saturday, June 5, after being stabbed near South Gibson Avenue & East Rose Street in Compton." A few early news reports added some details. According to MyNewsLA.com, "deputies and county firefighters responded at 12:50 a.m. to a call of a person down in the area of South Gibson Avenue and East Rose Street and located the victim," and Paredes "was pronounced dead at the scene," said Deputy Michelle Sanchez of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.
The outlet reported that "a motive for the strangling and a description of a suspect were not available."
Those first reports, published the same weekend, described him as homeless and said he had been strangled. The coroner's records later summarized by the Los Angeles Times list the cause as a stabbing. The public record does not explain the difference, and it may reflect information that changed after an autopsy.
His family remembered a different side of him. A GoFundMe page organized by Esmeralda Burgos said that "Jimmie Paredes unexpectedly passed on June 4th, 2021 leaving behind his wife, kids, grandkids and siblings." It described him as "an optimistic giving man" who "always gave the shirt off his back to lend a hand or something as simple as giving a warm meal." The family wrote that "he did not deserve for his life to have been taken from him and his family the way it was." The fundraiser raised $2,075 of its $12,000 goal from 29 donations.
Compton is a city of about 95,000 people in south Los Angeles County, made up largely of single-family homes on quiet residential streets, along with busy commercial corridors. The city disbanded its own police department in 2000, and since then the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has handled law enforcement there. The area around Gibson Avenue and Rose Street is a residential neighborhood, and in the hour before 1 a.m. its streets would usually have been quiet.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jimmie John Paredes could be found in news archives or public records. More than four years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near South Gibson Avenue and East Rose Street in Compton late on June 4 or early on June 5, 2021, or who knew Jimmie Paredes, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
