Compton family speaks out after son was shot dead at work at graduation party

A well-known Compton family is mourning the loss of their loved one who shot while working at a graduation party on Friday.

The shooting occurred around 7:45 p.m. near Compton College, where hundreds of people had gathered for a pool party. Six people were shot in the incident, including 27-year-old Robert Lee Abdelkader, who died at the scene.

“I named him Lee Lee, his middle name was Lee, so I named him Lee Lee,” said Inez Tootie Adkins.

She said she was at home when she heard the gunshots Friday night. Abdelkader, who owned two small businesses in Compton, was in charge of the party at their home at the time.

“I said, ‘Oh my God,’ and I heard the kids running and screaming,” Adkins said. “I came outside and saw my son dead in my own backyard.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators said two more men and three women were shot Friday as nearly 100 people fled the home on East Greenleaf Boulevard.

Witnesses told the Adkins family that the suspects were older men, not guests at the party, and were carrying weapons that reportedly looked like AR-15s.

They hope that surveillance cameras in the area – including those at their home – will help investigators find Abdelkader’s killer.

“He was just standing in his own backyard,” said Darris Adkins, Abdelkader’s uncle. “I don’t understand it.”

The Adkins family has been involved in business ownership and local government in Compton for decades and says this latest incident has nothing to do with the Compton they know or love.

“These cowards who came here to shoot at a young people’s party have no love for me or for Compton,” Adkins said.

She does volunteer work helping crime victims overcome their trauma, but now she finds herself in unfamiliar territory on the other side of the issue.

“I just told them words of comfort and let them know that their faith would give them strength. And now I’m looking for those words myself and I can’t find them.”

According to investigators, all other victims of the shooting survived their injuries, but some of them are still in the hospital days later.

There is no information yet available about the remaining shooters.

According to investigators, there is no known connection between the shooting and Compton College.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.