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A Cal State Long Beach alumnus and former Daily Forty-Niner
investigative reporter played a major role in the voluntary surrender
of a key murder witness last Tuesday.
Tim Hughes, a 1991 CSULB graduate and Mike Bonin, both staff
reporters for the Wave Community Newspaper which serves SouthCentral
Los Angeles, Compton and the surrounding areas had been
following the story of Officers Kevin Burrell and James MacDonald
(also a CSULB alumnus), two Compton Police Officers who were
murdered in February 1993.
Calvin Cooksey, the key witness in the murders had been in
contact with Hughes and Bonin who had been writing stories about
him and the murders for the past six months.
According to the Wave, Cooksey had been living in seclusion in
Phoenix, Ariz. for the past several months evading court orders to
testify against Regis Deon Thomas, the accused murderer.
Cooksey fears that if he were to testify, his safety and that of
his family would be threatened by the Bounty Hunters, a gang in
which Thomas is an alleged member. Cooksey accused Thomas for the
death of his mother in August. According to Cooksey the murder was
in retaliation for his initial testimony against Thomas.
According to the Wave, Cooksey telephoned the Wave offices
April 4, telling Bonin that he wished to finally surrender to the
police, but needed the help of the Wave reporters to do so.
According to Hughes, Cooksey trusted only Bonin and would
only negotiate with Bonin on the terms of his surrender. Cooksey
wanted several members of the media present and he wanted his
surrender to be with police in Los Angeles rather than Compton.
Cooksey arrived at the Wave offices in the Crenshaw District
of South Los Angeles wearing a black hood and bullet-proof vest,
while also being accompanied by an armed bodyguard.
Hughes said that while they were all in the Wave offices, the
bodyguard wouldn't let him go near Cooksey, and the bodyguard had
his firearm exposed and loaded.
"It all happened so fast, we didn't have time to get scared,"
Hughes said.
Later that evening, after negotiating with members of the
media and Los Angeles Police Lt. Sergio Robleto, Bonin escorted
Cooksey and his bodyguard to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Los
Angeles Police substation where he surrendered amidst a large group
of television reporters and police officers.
Cooksey told Wave reporters that he still had no intention of
testifying, despite his surrender. He said that he wanted to send a
message to the Bounty Hunters street gang that would not be
testifying against Thomas.
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MAGAZINE
FORUMS
ON LINE STORE
CSULB alumni negotiates surrender of murder witness
By Michael J. Vogelsang, Daily Forty-Niner Online
April 19, 1995
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