Local News in Brief : Security Guard Slain in Ambush

An unarmed Los Angeles Housing Authority security guard was fatally shot from ambush Tuesday as he returned to his Inglewood apartment from a liquor store, police said.

Dennis Reddick, 32, was shot once in the head about 9:30 p.m. by an unknown number of assailants as he brought a soft drink back from a liquor store across the street from his apartment in the 10900 block of Crenshaw Boulevard. His assailants, who were waiting near the building’s courtyard, fired several shots from a handgun and fled, said police. Reddick was pronounced dead at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center at 2:17 a.m. Wednesday.

“This was first-degree, cold-blooded murder; they gave him no chance to defend himself,” said Sgt. Harold Moret of the Inglewood police. “I’m sure he didn’t even know why they were shooting at him.”

Moret said the neighborhood is “a relatively quiet area.”

Reddick worked for the Housing Authority for 5 years and was most recently a security officer at the Los Angeles City Hall annex in Watts, said Housing Authority spokeswoman Michelle Roth.