LOS ANGELES — The head of a South Los Angeles nonprofit gang intervention program has been arrested by LAPD homicide detectives on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, along with four others accused in the killing.

Skipp Townsend, 62, executive director of 2nd Call, was taken into custody by Los Angeles Police Department Robbery Homicide Division detectives on Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m. in South Los Angeles.

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 often 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 others, 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 the suspects 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 said the case is under review for a charging decision.

Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the pending case told The Times that search warrants were served before the suspects 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 after a confrontation with LAPD officers at a candlelight vigil a few blocks from where Foreman was killed this 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. It was not clear why prosecutors couldn’t move forward. A judge threw out the case after Bennett’s attorney argued that his right to a speedy trial had been violated.

The other man charged in the case pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

On the Fourth of July, another 2nd Call employee was killed. Eric Washington, 37, was shot around 11:20 p.m. while trying to break up an altercation at the New Wilmington Arms Apartments in Compton, 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 L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino and was part of the Watts Rising initiative with the city’s Housing Authority. After the killing, Mayor Karen Bass 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 in 2024.

Townsend was once part of the Rollin’ 20s Bloods. In a Times profile on Townsend, Bennett, known as Lil AD, a onetime 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 than that.”

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