Authorities hope $20K reward will lead to killer of East LA College athlete

Rewards totaling $20,000 were offered Thursday for information that helps detectives solve the 2016 killing of an East Los Angeles College basketball player who was gunned down just hours after he turned 20.

Saieed Stecoo Ivey was fatally shot around 4:30 a.m. June 9, 2016, as he sat in his vehicle in the parking lot of his apartment complex in the 800 block of El Repetto Drive in Monterey Park, Deputy Lillian Peck of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

"Although it's been a couple of years, it still feels like yesterday to me,'' Sherita Carter, Ivey's mother, said at a news conference Thursday in hopes of publicizing the rewards and generating tips. "It's a cut I don't think I will ever be able to heal from. ... Saieed did not deserve this.''

Detectives said they did not know a motive for the shooting.

Ivey's mother told reporters that her son moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to get away from gang violence.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $10,000 reward, while a second $10,000 reward was sponsored by Ivey's family and friends.

Each reward is offered in exchange for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects responsible for Ivey's death.

Anyone with information on the crime was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

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