Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva directly challenged NBA star LeBron James to essentially put his money where his mouth is.
Villanueva asked the Los Angeles Lakers star, who has been quite vocal in condemning police misconduct, to match the reward money being offered for information on the person who ambushed and shot two LA County Sheriff’s deputies over the weekend.
A manhunt is still underway for the gunman who was seen on surveillance video Saturday, walking up to the passenger’s side of the vehicle and shooting both deputies inside, wounding the 31-year-old mother and her 24-year-old male partner.
Los Angeles County has already pledged $100,000 and private pledges of $50,000 and $25,000 have been added to the total so far for information on the shooter. During an interview with KABC Radio on the John Phillips Show, Villanueva asked James to double the $175,000 amount to $350,000.
“This challenge is to Lebron James. I want you to match that and double that reward,” Villanueva said.
“I know you care about law enforcement. You expressed a very interesting statement about your perspective on race relations and on officer-involved shootings and the impact that it has on the African-American community,” he added.
“And I appreciated that,” Villanueva continued. “But likewise, we need to appreciate that respect for life goes across all professions.”
“Let’s see what he does,” the sheriff told KABC. “I’ll be very curious to see what his...
