A Long Beach Superior Court jury has convicted 24-year-old Cypress resident Reshawn Jonae Strother in the May 9, 2023, drive-by shooting death of 12-year-old Eric Gregory Brown III, finding him guilty of murder along with three counts of attempted murder, conspiracy, and multiple firearm charges after deliberating for less than a day following a one-week trial.
Strother was convicted of assault with a firearm, unlawful firearm activity, and carrying a loaded firearm in public, according to the Press Telegram. Prosecutors said Strother opened fire on Brown and two teenage girls who were walking together on Lewis Avenue near Hill Street on May 9, 2023, striking the boy in the back of the head. A 14-year-old girl was hit in the leg, while a 13-year-old girl escaped unharmed, per the same account.
How the Attack Unfolded
According to the Press Telegram's reporting on trial testimony, Strother had reported that someone opened fire on him and grazed a car he was driving — Destenee Scipio's vehicle — near Orange Avenue and Hellman Street earlier that night. Detectives said Strother wanted to retaliate after that earlier shooting. Scipio told investigators the pair had been staying at the Tower Motel near Pacific Coast Highway and Chestnut Avenue, returned there after the earlier shooting, then drove to Carson and Downey to pick up two other men before traveling to Lewis Avenue and Hill Street, and Strother grabbed her by the throat and slammed her onto the hood of the car during the encounter, the outlet reported.
Scipio said she saw at least one of the men get into the car with a gun, and the group then traveled to Lewis Avenue and Hill Street, where Strother and another armed man were identified by detectives as gang members. Detective Jesus Espinoza testified that two other people were in the car and that two men had asked, “Where you from?” before the shooting, according to the same report. Long Beach police have characterized the shooting as gang-related, and police previously said the attack targeted the wrong group entirely — none of the three victims had any gang ties.
Case Built on License Plate Technology
Long Beach Police Department homicide detectives identified and located the suspect vehicle using Automatic License Plate Reader technology and neighborhood security camera footage, which led investigators directly to Strother and Scipio, according to a City of Long Beach news release. At the time detectives identified Strother for the murder in July 2023, he was already in Los Angeles Police Department custody in connection with an unrelated attempted murder investigation, per the city's account.
That prior case stemmed from a March 2023 shooting at a Los Angeles music studio, where Strother allegedly fired into the building, injuring Scipio in the leg and wounding another man, according to the Press Telegram. Scipio, also 24, was arrested in Cypress on July 5, 2023, and was held on $4 million bail before she pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in July 2025 and testified against Strother at trial. She has not yet been sentenced. Strother was initially held on $5 million bail after Long Beach charged him, according to the city's release.
Reward and Prosecution
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office formally charged Strother and Scipio in July 2023 under court case NA122155 in Long Beach Superior Court, alleging Strother personally used a handgun during the drive-by shooting and filing murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy counts, according to the Sierra Sun Times. Months earlier, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had established a $10,000 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions in the case.
Hoodline previously covered the arrests in this case in February 2024. The Long Beach Police Department had identified Strother and Scipio using license plate reader technology and neighborhood surveillance footage in a July 7, 2023, update. It remains an open question whether investigators will identify or charge the additional men who were reportedly in the car before the shooting.
Broader Violence Trends in Long Beach
The killing came during a period when Long Beach recorded 26 homicides in 2023, its lowest annual total since 2017, before the total rose to 38 in 2024 — the city's highest since 2021 — with North and East Long Beach seeing the largest increases, according to the Long Beach Post. More recently, shootings citywide fell to a five-year low in the first half of 2025, dropping from 188 incidents in early 2024 to 133 in early 2025 as police stepped up firearm recoveries and focus team deployments, the outlet reported separately, noting LBPD seized 585 illegal firearms during that span.
Statewide, California's homicide rate decreased 13.5% in 2024, though aggravated assaults involving firearms remained 33.6% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Strother's sentencing is scheduled for October 7, 2026, while Scipio's sentencing has not yet been set.
