City Council authorizes $25,000 reward in shooting of 12-year-old Elizabeth Thomas

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a $25,000 reward to encourage community tips in the shooting that seriously injured 12-year-old Elizabeth Thomas.

The council approved the special-reward motion after the City Attorney said the Police Department requested the reward and the council needed to make findings that the need to act arose after the agenda was posted and that there was an immediate need to act. “This is a special reward motion the Police Department has asked for. They are investigating the shooting injury of Elizabeth Thomas, who is 12 years old. It happened on July 8, and they’re asking for the reward so that the community, if there are any leads, the community will come forward,” the City Attorney said.

Councilmember Pacheco, who introduced the reward motion, described the shooting as a “very tragic incident” involving two gangs and said it occurred in front of “1923 and 1922 Pennsylvania in Bull Heights.” Pacheco asked the council to “authorize the sum of $25,000 for a reward to hopefully get some leads information so we can solve this.”

The council first voted unanimously on the required findings that the need to act arose after the posting of the agenda; that vote was recorded as 13 ayes. The council then approved the reward authorization; the final vote on the item was recorded as 13 ayes.

No additional investigative details or sources of the reward funds were specified during the discussion recorded in the meeting transcript. The council did not identify a second for the motion in the record.

The action instructs City staff to make the reward available to encourage tips and does not, in the transcript, impose any further policy changes or funding reallocations.