THE MAN CONVICTED of shooting and killing a former Oakland city councilmember’s son six years ago in Los Angeles was sentenced this week to 35 years to life in prison.
Victor McElhaney was 21 years old when he was shot by Ivan Hernandez, then 23, during a botched robbery at a convenience store about a mile from the University of Southern California campus early on March 10, 2019.
McElhaney, a gifted jazz percussionist and student at USC’s Thornton School of Music, was the son of Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who was serving as Oakland’s District 3 councilmember at the time.
Gibson McElhaney said Wednesday that the sentence doesn’t feel like justice but it is an important step in accountability and provides the family with a measure of closure.
“You can’t bring Victor back … that’s what I want,” Gibson McElhaney said in a statement to the court Monday in Los Angeles. “So, the system has asked for a life for a life and they will place you behind bars. But that is not a life, for Victor’s life.”
Gibson McElhaney directed her comments to Hernandez, who pleaded no contest in January to first-degree murder.
“You owe me a drummer. You owe me a poet. You owe me and this world a healer … so become that,” said McElhaney, who noted that her son was a dedicated social justice advocate and worked on several violence prevention programs with her in Oakland before his death.
“You have the time. Give your mother something to hold that’s more than a memory of your worst moment in life,” she said.
Victor McElhaney’s father, Clarence McElhaney Jr., also addressed the court, describing his son’s tiny start in life and his powerful gifts.
“He was born two months early, weighing less than a 5-pound bag of sugar,” McElhaney Jr. said. “He was a light. He brought joy everywhere he went. He was helpful and thoughtful. He was pure love. He made music because he knew music has the power to heal.”
Gibson McElhaney said that while she was leaving court Monday, she hugged Hernandez’ mother, who was crying and “offered her apology for the death of my son.”
“I told her to take heart in knowing that her son still has breath and an opportunity to make something of his life,” Gibson McElhaney said.
“You owe me a drummer. You owe me a poet. You owe me and this world a healer … so become that.”
Lynette Gibson McElhaney
On the night of the killing, Hernandez was with two or three other men, at least one of whom was also armed, when they confronted Victor McElhaney and a group of his friends prior to the shooting. The other suspects in the case have never been arrested or charged.
After he was shot, Victor McElhaney was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died at about 11 a.m. that day.
Hernandez was originally charged with murder and a special circumstance allegation that he killed Victor McElhaney during an attempted robbery and while he was an active participant in a criminal street gang. He could have faced the death penalty.
In January, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Hernandez’s no contest plea would ensure he’d face the consequences of his actions.
“Victor was a promising young 21-year-old university student, a talented drummer and active member of USC’s Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, whose life was cut short by an act of pure violence,” Hochman said.
Victor McElhaney’s death was the second tragic death to claim a young member of his family.
In 2015, 17-year-old Torian Hughes, who Gibson McElhaney helped raise, was fatally shot in the 900 block of Mandela Parkway in West Oakland.
Shiheim Johnson, who was 19 at the time, was convicted of first-degree murder for his part in the killing and sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison.
The teen who allegedly shot Hughes was prosecuted separately in juvenile court.
