Family of 18-year-old Daina Monroe, shot and killed 7 months ago, offer $45,000 reward in case
Wednesday marked exactly seven months since the shooting death of 18-year-old Daina Monroe, a club volleyball standout and recent graduate of Culver City High School.
It's also been seven months without any answer as to is responsible for the Monroe's killing.
"It's sad. It's lonely and it's hard. Somebody who was a huge, huge part of our lives is no longer here and there is no greater pain than that," said a friend of Monroe's, Ghalia Warren.
Police said that Monroe, along with her sister and two friends, were sitting in a car outside her mother's home, near Inglewood Avenue and Queen Street, discussing what movie to watch just before midnight. That's when investigators said a car pulled up and shot into their vehicle.
On Wednesday, alongside Inglewood's police chief, friends, former teammates and Monroe's family announced a $45,000 reward to help find the person that took Monroe's life last year, on October 18.
"This was an innocent person who had nothing to do with any gang violence. She had a bright future ahead of her. She had plans for her future," said Darrin Monroe, Daina's father.
The 18-year-old's plans included playing college volleyball and, one day, to play in the Olympics.
Since her tragic murder, the the family has dealt with even more heart break, losing two more innocent family members to gun violence; a cousin's fiancé, Dejuan Freeman, was killed on his way to work, and then, just last month, Daina's grandfather, Michael Monroe, was shot and killed over his watch.
My dad was only 76 years old, just trying to pick up his cleaners and never made it to the cleaners. This gun violence just really needs to stop," Maisha Layne said.
Though Wednesday's reward announcement was about finding Daina's killer, the family also wanted to send a message about gun violence in communities like Inglewood and South LA, where the deaths of all three of their family members have so far gone unsolved.
