James Henry Hall III was sitting in the driver's seat of a car near 83rd and Figueroa streets in South Los Angeles when someone approached the vehicle and opened fire, killing him at the scene. The shooting happened at 10:11 p.m. on June 14, 2022, and ABC7 reported that four years later, no arrests had been made, while the LAPD case page lists “Arrest Made: Yes.”
According to ABC7 Los Angeles, Hall was a 40-year-old chef at Lisa Vanderpump's Tom Tom restaurant in West Hollywood. He and his girlfriend had picked up a late dinner from a Jack in the Box that night before driving to her home on West 83rd Street near Figueroa Street, where Hall parked in the driver's seat with his girlfriend in the front passenger seat, the outlet reports.
The Los Angeles Police Department's case page confirms the core of what happened next in stark terms: “The suspects shot and killed the victim as he sat in a vehicle,” according to LAPD. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that “at 10:11 p.m., an individual approached the car parked near the intersection of 83rd and Figueroa streets,” and that officers who responded to the scene pronounced Hall dead there.
A Late-Night Ambush
ABC7's reporting fills in additional detail not found in LAPD's public case file: that three men emerged from an SUV parked down the street and opened fire as Hall began exiting the car, firing about 30 shots in total. Hall's girlfriend was in the vehicle at the time but was physically unharmed, the station reports.
Police released an image of the suspects' vehicle, described as a dark Infiniti SUV with chrome trim, but cameras did not capture its license plate, according to the same ABC7 account. Investigators have not identified any of the three men believed to be responsible.
A Case of Mistaken Identity, Investigators Believe
Per ABC7, investigators believe Hall's killing may have stemmed from the color of his shoes. Hall was reportedly wearing red sneakers that night, and the shooting location was said to be controlled by the Hoover Street gang, while red is associated with the rival Bloods gang, the station notes. LAPD Homicide Detective Dexter Navarro told the outlet investigators think Hall was mistaken for a rival gang member residing in the area, even though Hall himself had no known connection to any gang.
A separate LAPD account of unrelated shootings in South Los Angeles describes a similar pattern, noting that people struck by gunfire there “based on their locations at the time of these incidents each appears to have been mistaken as gang associates,” according to a LAPD release describing that separate case. It is not clear from available records whether that pattern bears any direct connection to Hall's killing.
Family Still Waiting
Hall's mother, Yvette Hall, told ABC7 that losing her son has been devastating. Sandra Hunter, identified in the same report, asked anyone with information to come forward, and Hall's family says it hopes someone will eventually identify who was inside the SUV that night.
Whether an arrest has since been made in the case is unclear from the available record. ABC7's report, published this week, states plainly that no arrests have been made in Hall's killing four years after the shooting. A separate LAPD case-page search listing, however, displays “Arrest Made: Yes,” a discrepancy that has not been independently resolved.
Police continue to ask anyone with information to contact investigating Detectives Navarro and Flores, per LAPD's case listing. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous can call 323-786-5100.
