Los Angeles County officials have set a $20,000 reward for information in the shooting death of a Huntington Park police officer that has remained unsolved for more than five decades.
Investigators hope the reward, which the county Board of Supervisors authorized Tuesday, will draw attention to the case and encourage witnesses or those who may know the shooter's identity to come forward.
“The murder of Officer Robert Keller continues to be painful for the Huntington Park community and his family,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement.
Hahn went on to say that she, like the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, hopes to resolve the case and bring a sense of closure to Keller's family.
On Oct. 5, 1967, Keller responded to an emergency call caused by a silent burglar alarm at a clothing store called the Wonder Shop on Pacific Boulevard, according to a Huntington Park Police Department memorial page.
Keller and a security officer from the alarm company met outside and entered the store together. While they were searching the business, a person, who had apparently entered through a skylight, emerged from a hiding place and opened fire, according to the memorial page.
Keller and the intruder exchanged approximately 12 shots, authorities said. Keller was shot in the chest during the shooting and later died from his wounds.
The shooter ran out of the store, leaving behind a trail of blood indicating a possible gunshot wound.
The shooter was never identified “despite an intense manhunt” that included homicide detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The case remains unsolved, although homicide detectives continue to investigate, according to Board of Supervisors agenda documents.
Keller was a U.S. Navy veteran and had been a member of the Huntington Park Police Department for one year, according to his memorial page.
Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's homicide Lt. Joseph Purcell at (323) 890-5565. Reports can be made anonymously online at lacrimestoppers.org or by phone at (800) 222-8477.
In a statement, Huntington Park Mayor Marilyn Sanabria thanked the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff's Department for their continued support and for committing additional resources to “unraveling this infamous crime.”
