Dion Miles Jr., 19

Died June 13, 2007 at 7:38 p.m.

Dion Miles Jr., 19, a young black man, was shot and killed at 12303 Wilmington in Willowbrook about noon on Wednesday, June 13. He was from another part of Los Angeles and is not believed to have known much about the neighborhood where he found himself that afternoon. Detectives think he may have gotten off a bus at a nearby bus stop there.

He was wearing a red hat, shoes, and red striped shirt. The neighborhood is claimed by Crip gangs who are associated with the color blue and who are traditional enemies of red-clad Blood gangs. Miles was not a documented gang member and had no criminal record of serious or violent crime. He probably had no idea that the colors he was wearing might be considered a provocation on that stretch of Wilmington, detectives said. Almost immediately, he was confronted by two black men or youths on foot. One shot him, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

Miles was an art student at Cal State Northridge, and a member of a large and accomplished Baldwin Hills family. His stepmother Robin Miles, who works at a Century City law firm, described him as a happy-go-lucky young man who had drawn and doodled all his life, and who was studying graphic design for video games. He was tall, light-skinned, curly-haired, and had been a basketball player. He was the eldest of 10 children of his father, Dion L. Miles Sr. His parents had plans to transfer him from Northridge to Columbia University. He got off the bus, said his stepmother, on his way to visit his sister. She, too, said he was not sure where he was.