A late-night argument over food orders outside a Hawthorne burger stand ended with a 57-year-old off-duty security guard shot dead, and now the man who pulled the trigger is headed to prison for 40 years to life. Darryl Deshon Fletcher, 56, was sentenced Friday in Airport Superior Court for the January 2024 killing of Eddie McAllister, a father of four from Lawndale.
According to the Daily Breeze, Fletcher and McAllister were both inside Fabulous Charbroiled Burgers at 3301 Rosecrans Ave. just past 2 a.m. on January 17, 2024, waiting for their food orders when the two strangers began arguing. Restaurant surveillance video captured the moments leading up to the fight, and two people inside the restaurant recorded the confrontation and shooting on their cellphones, per court papers cited by the outlet.
Court papers reported that Fletcher challenged McAllister to a fight, and McAllister knocked Fletcher to the ground during the scuffle. Fletcher went back outside less than 10 seconds after McAllister left, according to the same court papers, and grabbed a gun that fell from a concealed area before shooting McAllister in the chest.
A Confrontation Between Strangers
Hawthorne Police Department detectives reported at the time that investigators did not believe Fletcher and McAllister had any prior relationship or acquaintance before the argument inside the restaurant, according to CBS Los Angeles. McAllister was working as an unarmed security guard, per Fox 11 Los Angeles, and had just finished an off-duty shift before stopping to eat.
Hawthorne officers responded to a 2:09 a.m. dispatch call, where Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics attempted life-saving measures before declaring McAllister dead at the scene, according to KFI AM 640. Fletcher drove away from the scene in his car and was later arrested that same day in a nearby city, per the Daily Breeze. Detectives ultimately identified him as the shooter, and he allegedly told an officer, “I just (expletive) it up,” according to court documents cited by the outlet.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner officially identified the victim on January 18, 2024, as 57-year-old Eddie McAllister of Lawndale, according to Redondo Beach Patch. McAllister's daughter, Emani McAllister, recalled in an interview that her father was dining with a friend after his security shift when he was targeted in the confrontation, according to the Los Angeles Times. Family members have said McAllister was a peaceful man who did not deserve to die.
Charges, Plea and a Jury Verdict
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office formally charged Fletcher on January 19, 2024, with murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of ammunition prohibited due to a prior conviction, per MyNewsLA.com. Fletcher initially pleaded not guilty to all three counts. Before trial, he pleaded no contest to one count of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of felon in possession of ammunition, and a jury later convicted him of second-degree murder, according to the Daily Breeze.
The specific prior felony conviction that barred Fletcher from legally possessing a firearm under California Penal Code Section 29800 was not detailed in available reporting. That statute makes it a felony for anyone with a prior felony conviction to own, possess, or control a firearm, carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison, according to the Los Angeles Criminal Lawyer Professional Corporation.
How the 40-Years-to-Life Term Was Calculated
Fletcher's sentence, handed down September 4 in Airport Superior Court, combines two separate statutory penalties. Under California Penal Code Section 190(a), a conviction for second-degree murder carries a base sentence of 15 years to life, requiring a defendant to serve at least 15 years before becoming eligible for parole, according to the Shouse Law Group.
On top of that base term, California's so-called “10-20-Life” firearm enhancement law under Penal Code Section 12022.53 adds a mandatory 25-years-to-life sentence when a firearm is personally and intentionally discharged causing death during a murder, according to the Hedding Law Firm. Combined, those two provisions produced Fletcher's 40-years-to-life sentence.
A Violent Crime Rate Well Above the National Average
The shooting unfolded in a city whose violent crime levels have run well above national norms. FBI crime data compiled for 2024 shows Hawthorne recorded a violent crime rate of 727.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, roughly double the national average of 359.1, according to OpenCrime. That local picture stands in contrast to statewide trends: the California Department of Justice's annual crime report, released by Attorney General Rob Bonta in July, found the state's overall violent crime rate fell 10.2% in 2025 to 431.1 incidents per 100,000 residents.
