The case of the execution-style Black-on-White murder on a Hollywood street this past Fourth of July weekend took a bizarre turn Friday night with the arrest of the suspect who is now being held on $1 million bail.
Promotional photo of Ezeoma Obioha, on left in ballcap, with music star Pharrell Williams. Photo via Obioha’s Facebook page.
Ezeoma Obioha, the 31-year-old man arrested by Los Angeles police for the murder Carrie Jean Melvin, also 31, was known to police—as a civilian member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Area Community-Police Advisory Board with the title of Secretary.
Obioha was a rapper and entrepreneur who presented himself as being “all about protecting the community” and helping stop young minorities from “gang-banging.”
Obioha is CEO of a security company called Neighborhood Protectors and Neighborhood Watch Networks. According to his bio on the company’s website, Obioha is “Morehouse College graduate, US Army veteran, LAPD Community-Police Academy graduate, and Armed Security Officer.”
Neighborhood Protectors claims to offer elite security for the toughest neighborhoods.
…” NPI hires Private Security companies to supply Uniformed Security Armed Patrol Officers, also known as Armed Neighborhood Security/Watch Enforcement Regional Servicemembers™ (ANSWERS™), who perform armed neighborhood security motor-vehicle patrols for numerous Neighborhood Watch Organizations called H.O.O.D. (meaning Homeowner & Occupant Organizations for Defense) throughout the United States of America.
” Battle-ready Elite Squadron Tactical ANSWERS™ (BEST ANSWERS™, also known as HOODFELLA SECURITY™) are deployed to patrol neighborhoods with the highest crime rates.”
Obioha reportedly was working security for a marijuana dispensary before his arrest.
Obioha also has a line of clothing called Hoodfellas sold online and at a storefront on Pico Blvd. in L.A. He also sold Italian-made designer athletic shoes.
Obioha also went by the name DJ Easy Money and was involved in the rap music business as a rapper and studio owner.
Pharrell Williams “liked” Obioha’s Facebook page for his TheHoodsInc company.
The Facebook page for DJEasyMoney was updated shortly before the murder of Melvin with a photo of a “Hoodfellas” logoed ball cap.
Melvin was killed with a shotgun blast to the back of the head on a Hollywood street as she walked with her boyfriend around 10 p.m. on July 5 by a Black man who silently walked up behind her and fired on only her. The man got in to a vehicle and drove away.
The seeming randomness of the attack struck fear in the neighborhood. However police investigators reportedly determined the murder was over a financial dispute between Obioha and Melvin.
KFI-AM reported police investigators said Obioha either bounced or stopped payment on a check to Melvin for payment to her social media promotions company.
“Melvin, who had been working as a waitress while she developed a business as social media and internet consultant, had been hired by Obioha to produce online promotions for a security or clothing business.
“Obioha bounced or canceled a check for a few hundred dollars and Melvin had threatened to take him to small claims court days before the murder, the investigators said. “
The alleged turn by Obioha to murder is a far cry from the life he came from. In 2002 when he was seventeen and attending Beverly Hills High School, Obioha wrote an essay taking his classmates to task for joking about the then-recent 9/11 terrorist attacks and not caring about people who were murdered.
“The terrorist attacks were the most hideous things that I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. I just can’t understand why some of my classmates think it’s a big joke.
“On September 11, my classmates seemed to be shocked and angered by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I thought that they might create school clubs to contribute to the relief fund or donate their own money to help the victims of the plane crashes. Maybe they would start reading up on the war. Maybe they’d discuss how to prevent terrorism. Boy, was I wrong.
“A few days before Halloween, one of my classmates interrupted the teacher’s lecture to announce to the class that he was going to dress up as the “anthrax fairy” for Halloween. He chuckled, describing the tutu he was going to wear as he sprinkled fake anthrax on people. I heard laughter from my classmates. The teacher told him it wasn’t funny and continued his lecture on Supreme Court cases.
“On Halloween, a Persian classmate of mine showed up dressed as Bin Laden with a towel wrapped around his head and a beard on his face. Draped in a tan cloth, he spent the day throwing a fake stick of dynamite at people, saying, “I’m going to blow you up!” His friends laughed and said “That’s the best costume, I wish I had thought of that!”
“In another one of my classes there has been a sick game going on between a Persian classmate and a black classmate. I’ll call them Amir and Joe. Every day Amir calls Joe a “slave” and Joe calls Amir a “F% $^% *& terrorist!”…”
…” Why do people react this way? Are they desensitized? How can they think it’s funny when they see real people dying—not actors pretending to die in a movie. How can they not care? I’m appalled by teens’ attitudes.
“In one year these students are going to be able to vote. If they can’t make a good judgement about terrorism, how are they going to make a good judgement about who should be president and lead the nation?
“I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m worried about what our generation has in store for the world. I wish I could advise teens on how to act. I would tell them to consider how offensive their comments are to people who actually care about the terrorist attacks. Imagine that all the people who died came back to life and are in the same room with you. Imagine that you are in New York at ground zero, surrounded by the ruins of the World Trade Center. Is that joke still funny?”
Obioha posted a video to YouTube last December promoting Hoodfellas in which he presented himself as a businessman working to help the hood with employment for “young minorities” and donations to the community.
