Overview
- Los Angeles Police homicide detectives arrested Clifford “Skipp” Townsend on Wednesday in South L.A. as part of an alleged conspiracy to commit murder.
- Townsend was booked and held on $2 million bail after the arrest, and four others were seized with him; two of those arrested were held on suspicion of accessory after the fact.
- Prosecutors initially had not filed charges while reviewing evidence, and later reporting said the district attorney declined to charge Townsend and instead filed a murder charge against his son, Kody Townsend.
- Police executed search warrants at 2nd Call offices and activists reported that computers were taken as investigators collected material tied to the probe.
- The arrest has stunned local intervention networks because Townsend led 2nd Call for more than two decades and the case follows the August killing of staffer Reginald Foreman, raising concerns about trust between community groups and law enforcement and the future of violence-intervention work.