LA man convicted of 3 murders, 4 attempted murders in Torrance bowling alley brawl

A Los Angeles man on parole when he fired into a brawl at a crowded Torrance bowling alley in January 2019 was convicted on Friday, June 24, in the deaths of three men and for wounding four others.

Torrance Superior Court jurors were handed the case Thursday afternoon and needed less than two hours Friday morning before returning guilty verdicts against Reginald Leander Wallace, 51, on three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and felon in possession of a firearm.

Sobs broke out as the courtroom clerk read a guilty verdict for the first count, the murder of Michael Di’Shawn Radford, 20. Guilty verdicts for the murders of Astin Kyle Edwards, 28, and Robert Earl Meekins Jr., 28, followed.

Edwards and Meekins were best friends. Meekins and Radford were fathers.

Family members have said the three Los Angeles residents were attempting to break up the fight inside the bowling alley when they were shot.

Wallace, wearing a plaid, blue button-up shirt, stared straight ahead as the verdicts were read.

When sentenced, he faces the possiblity of life without the chance of parole.

Prosecutor John Chang, who handled the case with fellow prosecutor Robert Song, said the relentless work of Torrance police detective Lucas Ryono was what ultimately led to the conviction.

“The community has spoken and said that they not only will not condone gang violence, but they will hold those who commit that violence accountable,” Chang said outside the courtroom after the verdicts were read.

Some family members of the victims were still tearful as they left the courtroom. They thanked Chang and Ryono before leaving.

Wallace’s public defender, Scott T. Johnson, said Wallace wanted to tell his story. Johnson was hopeful the jury took it under consideration.

“This is very difficult for Mr. Wallace, but hopefully he’s able to move forward, too,” Johnson said.

Wallace, who identified himself as a gang associate, watched as a fight between two groups of women swelled to also include about 15 men. He testified that he knew rival gang members were in the bowling alley before the fight broke out.

It never surfaced during the trial what started the initial fight between two groups of women just before midnight on Jan. 4, 2019.

As the fight swayed back and forth between the front counter and an arcade, Wallace walked toward a front entrance, video presented during the trial shows. As the melee approached him, Wallace, then 47 years old, took two or three steps forward and, while still holding a Styrofoam cup with brandy in his left hand, pulled a handgun with his right hand and fired 11 times at the crowd.

Wallace then walked out of the bowling alley. He was picked up by friends along Hawthorne Boulevard and arrested two days after the shooting near Koreatown.

Prosecutors argued the shooting was a gang hit and said Wallace targeted specific people; they referred to recorded jailhouse conversations: Wallace told a cellmate that he saw his enemies and specifically picked a spot underneath a surveillance camera near the entrance thinking it wouldn’t capture the shooting. But other cameras did.

Johnson, Wallace’s alternate public defender, argued his client was protecting himself and those he was with after he saw one victim pull a gun during the brawl. Wallace testified he was in fear for his life and reacted by pulling his gun and firing.

Ultimately, jurors rejected Wallace’s version of the events.

Gable House Bowl, just south of Sepulveda and Hawthorne boulevards, has been a popular South Bay hangout for more than 50 years. It reopened a day after the shooting.

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