Eddie McAllister was a security guard who had reportedly finished his shift and was eating with a friend when an argument turned deadly early Wednesday in Hawthorne.
McAllister, 56, was a loving father who “did not deserve” to have his life cut short by gun violence, family members say.
McAllister was shot and killed in the incident reported to Hawthorne police around 2 a.m. in the 3300 block of West Rosecrans Avenue. He was identified to The Times by his daughter, Emani McAllister.
“He was a loving person, a lovable person,” McAllister told The Times. “He is incredible.”
According to Hawthorne police, officers sent to the scene found a man with a gunshot wound. Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A suspect was quickly identified and “tracked to a nearby location in a neighboring city,” where the individual was arrested on suspicion of murder, according to a statement from the Hawthorne Police Department. The alleged gunman was not identified.
Family members told KABC that McAllister was having dinner with a friend after work when he became involved in an argument with another person and the argument became physical.
“Honestly, he didn't deserve this,” Emani McAllister said. “It's sad that he had to go out like this.”
He remembered his father warmly. While she spoke to The Times on the phone, she was interrupted by a visitor who expressed his condolences and called Eddie “a great guy.”
“If that doesn't give you more information,” he said, “everyone loves my dad.”
The McAllister family is no stranger to gun violence.
D'Nary Lamonte Fowler, 19, Emani's brother, was killed by Los Angeles police on January 2, 2011, amid an apparent robbery attempt.
In the wake of Fowler's murder, her and McAllister's mother, Tameco Brewster, founded a nonprofit organization for those grieving gun deaths, the Movement of Mourning Mothers Association.
McAllister said he mourned those he had lost to gun violence, “and now I include my dad.”
