The head of a South Los Angeles nonprofit gang intervention program has been arrested by LAPD homicide detectives for an alleged conspiracy to commit murder, along with four men accused in a killing.
Skipp Townsend, 62, executive director of 2nd Call, was taken into custody by LAPD Robbery Homicide Division detectives on Wednesday at about 10:30 a. m., in South Los Angeles in the 5100 block of 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 is often quoted and appears in the media and alongside city leaders. His organization, 2nd Call, is an advocacy group that seeks to mediate gang disputes and provide alternatives to violence in the community.
Townsend is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. In addition to Townsend, Lenita Sinna Dee Lewis, 28, and Shamond Bennett, 49 were arrested Monday. Two other people who were arrested, Nichole Aaliyah Smith, 23 and Jeremiah Abdelhameed, 25, were also held on suspicion of accessory after the fact. LAPD officials would not detail who the men allegedly conspired to murder.
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 could not say if a case had been presented for charging yet.
Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the pending case told the Times search warrants were served before the men were booked into custody. Najee Ali, another prominent South L.A. activist, said Wednesday that police seized computers from 2nd Call’s offices.
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.
Police told the 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, as part of the long-delayed Destination Crenshaw revitalization project. Accounts vary about what happened, but witnesses said a youth in a medical face mask walked up to Foreman and Bennett 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 following a confrontation with LAPD officers at a candlelight vigil a few blocks away from where Foreman was killed the following year. Bennett faced three counts, including felony battery against emergency personnel.
But the 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, according to a district attorney’s office spokesperson. It was not clear why prosecutors couldn’t move forward with the case. A judge threw out the case after Bennett’s attorney argued that his right to a speedy trial was violated.
The other man charged in the case pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
On the 4th of July, another 2nd Call employee was killed. Eric Washington, 37, was shot around 11:20 p.m. J while trying to break up an altercation in the 700 block of West Laurel Street, east of Wilmington Avenue near Compton/Woodley Airport at the New Wilmington Arms Apartments, 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 Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino and was part of the Watts Rising initiative with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, following the killing, called Washington a “devoted public servant.”
Among gang interventionists, Townsend is a towering figure. After a turbulent upbringing that included stints in prison, he turned to doing gang intervention work. His work negotiating gang truces 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.
Townsend was once part of the Rollin’ 20s Bloods. In a Times profile on Townsend, Shamond Bennett known as Lil AD,. a one time Rollin’ 60s leader, who was arrested with him this week, said “He is a Blood. He’s going into Crip neighborhood. There’s no more bigger sacrifice that that.”
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