Prominent L.A. gang interventionist Skipp Townsend arrested in alleged murder conspiracy

The head of a South Los Angeles nonprofit gang intervention program has been arrested by authorities on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, in a case that has drawn widespread condemnation and expressions of incredulity from his colleagues.

Skipp Townsend, 62, executive director of 2nd Call, was taken into custody by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery Homicide Division on Wednesday about 10:30 a.m. outside the group’s office at La Brea Avenue and Obama Boulevard.

Townsend is a former gang member who, for more than two decades, has been the head of one of the city’s largest intervention programs and often appears in the media and alongside city leaders. His organization is an advocacy group that seeks to mediate gang disputes and provide alternatives to violence in the community.

He was arrested along with four others: Lenita Sinna Dee Lewis, 28; Shamond “Lil AD” Bennett, 49; Nichole Aaliyah Smith, 23; and Jeremiah Abdelhameed, 25. Townsend and Bennett are being held in lieu of $2-million bail, while the others’ bail was set at $50,000. LAPD officials have been mum about the underlying murder conspiracy case that the five are alleged to have played a role in.

Townsend has not been charged by prosecutors. An attorney for him could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the L.A. County district attorney’s office said the case is under review for a charging decision.

Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the pending case told The Times that search warrants were served before the suspects were taken into custody.

The arrests come after Reginald Foreman, 51, was fatally shot on Aug. 6 while working with a 2nd Call team on weed abatement near 59th Place and Crenshaw Boulevard in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

“It was heartbreaking,” Townsend said in an interview in October.

In the gang interventionist world, Townsend is a towering figure. He had the respect of generations of rival gang members, while also having the numbers of senior LAPD officials and police commissioners in his phone. In recent weeks, he posted photos of himself on the set of “The Drop: A Snowfall Saga,” saying he was serving as an advisor on FX’s new spin-off series about the rise of hip-hop in Los Angeles during the 1990s.

In addition to federal funding, city of Los Angeles records show that 2nd Call had contracts of $695,000 and up to $715,000 to provide violence prevention services through Mayor Karen Bass’ Office of Community Safety. The group had also landed work with Destination Crenshaw, the long-delayed $100-million beautification project that is meant to transform 1.3 miles of the Crenshaw Corridor.

Disbelief was the reaction of many of those who crossed paths with Townsend.

Jorja Leap, a gang expert at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, said that many people she has talked to were stunned by the news. Unlike in the case of Eugene “Big U” Henley, another gang interventionist who was charged in a federal murder conspiracy, most people had a hard time believing that Townsend could be responsible for such crimes, she said.

“Until I know the case against Skipp and I understand it in detail, this in no way bears any resemblance to the man I know,” Leap said. “Show me the receipts.”

Najee Ali, another prominent South L.A. activist, said Wednesday that police seized computers from 2nd Call’s offices.

“My phone’s been ringing off the hook,” Ali said, while adding: “It has a troubling impact on potential conflicts between gang members, because Skipp Townsend was always that one person you could rely on.”

Still others said the case highlighted the inherent tension of violence prevention work: To be truly effective, mediators such as Townsend need to keep one foot in the gang life.

“That’s a part of the tightrope that community interventionists have to navigate day in and day out,” said Fernando Rejón, executive director of L.A.’s Urban Peace Institute, adding that he finds the allegations against Townsend “unbelievable.”

He said he hopes that the arrest doesn’t undermine the broader anti-gang effort, which elected leaders and even some police officials have credited with helping drive down violent crime.

Reacting on social media, some observers of L.A. gang culture argued that the arrest fit a decades-long pattern of harassment by law enforcement of interventionists with criminal pasts.

In the Foreman killing, police told the victim’s family that they expected a break in the case soon, but no arrests have been announced.

Foreman — known as ”Big Ant” or simply “BA” — was described by Townsend as a caring, generous man with a booming laugh that could rattle windows. He loved anything baseball-related, especially the Dodgers. He liked to crack jokes. He loved coaching his nieces in softball at Ladera Park.

Foreman was working with a team removing weeds at a vacant lot near Crenshaw Boulevard and 60th Street. Accounts vary about what happened, but witnesses said a youth in a medical face mask walked up to Foreman and Bennett — one of the other men arrested Wednesday — and started shooting.

Both Foreman and Bennett took off running around the corner onto Crenshaw. The shooter caught up to Foreman about midway through the block. Some witnesses said the gunman stood over Foreman and fired into his chest at point-blank range.

In July 2025, Bennett and another man were charged with resisting arrest after a confrontation with LAPD officers at a candlelight vigil a few blocks from where Foreman was killed this year. Bennett faced three counts, including felony battery against emergency personnel.

But the prior case against Bennett had fallen apart in recent weeks. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced that it was unable to proceed on charges of resisting arrest and battery against Bennett last month. It was not clear why prosecutors couldn’t move forward. A judge threw out the case after Bennett’s attorney argued that his right to a speedy trial had been violated.

The other man charged in the 2025 case pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

On the Fourth of July, another 2nd Call employee was killed. Eric Washington, 37, was shot around 11:20 p.m. while trying to break up an altercation at the New Wilmington Arms Apartments in Compton, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. There is now a $70,000 reward for information about the killing.

Washington also worked for former L.A. City Councilmember Joe Buscaino and was part of the Watts Rising initiative with the city’s Housing Authority. After the killing, the mayor called Washington a “devoted public servant.”

After a turbulent upbringing that included stints in prison, Townsend began the work negotiating gang truces that brought him widespread accolades, earning him numerous contracts with the city of Los Angeles. The Times featured him in its rundown of the most influential Angelenos in 2024.

Townsend was once part of the Rollin’ 20s Bloods. In a Times profile on Townsend, Bennett, a onetime Rollin’ 60s member, said: “He is a Blood. He’s going into Crip neighborhood. There’s no more bigger sacrifice than that.”

Bennett was mentioned in the original gang injunction against the prominent gang in the early 2000s. According to the injunction, Bennett moved to L.A. from Sacramento and had numerous run-ins with the LAPD over the years as he was spotted in the company of other known 60s. Townsend and other interventionists have said Bennett has made a turnaround as he’s gotten older and dedicated his life to rooting out gang violence.

Nithya Raman, who clinched an electoral victory over Bass on Thursday to become the city’s next mayor, said she plans to bolster her predecessor’s creation of a stand-alone Office of Community Safety, aimed at developing new strategies for keeping the city safe that go beyond traditional law enforcement. Now in its second year, the office has worked on securing funding and distributing it to the network of nonprofits that oversee the city’s gang intervention and anti-violence programs.

The city has for years sought to professionalize the ranks of interventionists, providing new oversight and training. Several intervention academies have sprung up, and city leaders have sought to hold peacemaker agencies accountable by using “evidence-based” tracking of gang-related violence and referrals into job training programs and other services.