Candles. Bouquets. Framed photos.

These form two makeshift memorials for Junko Hanafusa at El Camino College, one by the place where she was attacked and the other inside the Schauerman Library.

Hanafusa was recently killed in a Dec. 24 attack on campus.

It was the day before Christmas, and Hanafusa was on her regular morning walk on campus, along with her dog Cherry, collecting bottles and cans to recycle.

No one expected that day would signal her last. According to a Dec. 27 press release by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Information Bureau, a “female Asian adult, 60 to 65 years of age” who was collecting recyclables on campus “was attacked by a Black male with a sledgehammer” on Sunday, Dec. 24 at 7:08 a.m.

The press release said the officers who worked on the case identified the attacker as Jeffery Davis, a 40-year-old transient known to be aggressive, according to Torrance residents who frequently saw him at Alondra Park, a public park beside the college.

News reports later identified the victim as Hanafusa, a 65-year-old Japanese woman.

According to a KTLA report, Davis was identified after the police viewed security camera footage outside the El Camino Gymnasium, where Hanafusa was attacked.

Davis was arrested a few hours later at Alondra Park. He now faces charges of first-degree murder, according to a Daily Breeze report.

His arraignment will be on Jan. 17 at the Torrance Superior Court.

According to Hanafusa’s neighbors, her dog, Cherry, remained faithfully by her side until a passerby spotted Hanafusa on the ground and called the authorities.

Hanafusa was then taken to a local hospital and died on Christmas Day.

About the suspect

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate locator, Davis is a six-foot male, weighing 180 lbs.

Davis has a history of nine arrests, including two misdemeanors handled by the El Camino Police Department. The most recent misdemeanor was in May 2023. He was also charged with several felonies, the most recent one on Nov. 29, 2023, in Lennox.

Several Torrance residents told The Union they would see Davis at the park, smoking marijuana and harassing people.

Torrance resident Stephen Grey said Davis would reside by the family picnic area, at one of the tables near the golf course.

Grey was at the park during the time of Davis’s arrest, not knowing what was going on when he saw the park full of officers. He said Davis cooperated with the police and it was a peaceful arrest.

“He’s been around that park… at least the last two years,” he said.

Grey said he witnessed Davis attacking people and animals at the park, including kicking geese and pushing a man into the pond.

Grey would warn others at the park to stay away from Davis, including Hanafusa, who used to walk early in the morning, around 5:30 a.m.

He warned her a few weeks before her death not to go out too early. As a result, she started going for a walk later in the morning, he said.

“She was harming nobody,” Grey said.

Jon McCormack, another Torrance resident who frequents Alondra Park, also said Davis was known to be hostile and aggressive, screaming at invisible people and “yelling so no one would come near him.”

“He’s been known to harass people walking by for no reason,” McCormack said.

Community grieves the loss of a ‘sweet, kind, gentle woman’

The death of Hanafusa has brought shock and grief to many neighbors, who knew her as a sweet elderly lady who walked her dog every morning around the neighborhood.

“This woman didn’t deserve what happened to her,” Grey said.

Leslie Andersen, 63, lived a few streets away from Hanafusa, and would regularly see her on their morning walks with their dogs, for about six or seven years.

“She was just the sweetest, gentlest, kindest soul,” Andersen said.

She said Hanafusa would walk early in the morning, collecting recyclables around the neighborhood, including on El Camino’s campus.

Andersen would also drop off recyclables at her house.

“She didn’t need the money. I think she did it just to do it,” Andersen said.

Andersen found out what happened when she went to Hanafusa’s house on Christmas morning to drop off some candy, only to learn about her death from Hanafusa’s sister.

“This is just horrible,” she said.

Andersen said Hanafusa was planning to retire before her death.

According to a report by the Daily Breeze, Hanafusa worked at Goldrich Kest, a real estate company based in Culver City.

Another neighbor, Oliver Maruna, didn’t know Hanafusa personally but would see her walking her dog around the neighborhood.

“She was a very sweet woman,” Maruna said.

Increasing crime and violence at Alondra Park

Feelings of apprehension and fear have stirred Torrance residents with the increase of crime in the area, particularly in Alondra Park.

McCormack, who has lived in El Camino Village for 45 years, said he has noticed an increase in crimes.

“Most people have the good sense not to go to the park after dark,” McCormack said.

Over the past couple of decades, McCormack said there’s been an increase in gang activities, tagging and overall “less law enforcement presence than there used to be.”

He said a big concern is people getting captured and then released, resulting in criminals not feeling as threatened by the criminal justice system as they used to.

“Even if [Davis] is charged, a lot of us just don’t have the confidence that he’ll be taken care of,” he said.

McCormack said his concern is Davis will not be extended psychiatric care, if that’s what he needs, or that the prison might release him because of overcrowding.

Andersen, who has lived in Torrance for almost 40 years, said she’s always felt pretty safe in her neighborhood.

Now, she does not feel as safe on her morning walks.

“I’m a little worried about going out and walking at six o’clock in the morning when it’s dark out,” she said.

Grey, who grew up in Torrance, said there has been an increase in crime since the pandemic. He often sees hypodermic needles on the ground, as well as an increase in graffiti and gang activities.

“You would never see that [in the past],” he said.

Grey said the police don’t patrol the park as much as they used to. He said the officers at El Camino are “top-notch,” and wishes “the park had more police like the El Camino [Police Department].”

Maruna, who has lived across from the Dominguez Channel since 2009, said he used to walk with his kids on El Camino’s campus but stopped bringing them due to the increase in crime in the area.

Maruna said he’s seen an increase in the presence of transients, drug use and crimes in general.

“We’re shocked [by Hanafusa’s death] but definitely not surprised because of all the other stuff in that area,” Maruna said.

He said he’s seen transients on El Camino’s campus several times, in places including parking Lot C, volleyball courts and in front of the tennis courts.

El Camino Police Chief Michael Trevis told The Union in a newsroom visit on Nov. 1, 2023, that transients inhabit campus and often stay overnight. Several students on campus are also unhoused, as previously reported by The Union.

The college’s response

Nixle, a text alert system, regularly sends text message alerts about crimes that have occurred on campus. No Nixle alerts were issued to the El Camino community about the Dec. 24 attack.

“We had women walking there that same day, on El Camino. Nobody knew what happened,” Maruna said.

However, a Nixle alert was released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Dec. 27 at 4:19 p.m. The alert stated the basic details of the assault, saying “Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Investigators are continuing to assist El Camino College Police Department with their investigation.”

Kerri Webb, El Camino director of public information and government relations, said since the attack occurred when the campus was closed, sending a notification “would’ve made no sense.”

“It would have just actually caused more harm and chaos and confusion,” Webb said.

El Camino released an email to faculty and staff nine days after the Dec. 24 attack, lamenting the death of Hanafusa.

“El Camino College takes the safety of our students, staff, faculty and community members seriously. Sadly, this shocking loss of a beloved local resident should never have occurred,” El Camino said in the email.

Webb said in the past 10 years she’s worked at El Camino, this is the first time she’s heard of a crime like this on campus.

“It was a really unfortunate situation,” she said.

Students and staff apprehensive about returning to campus

The Union spoke to several staff and students regarding the Dec. 24 attack.

“I’ve never heard of anything that tragic happening on campus,” Library Media Technician Charissa Penn, who has worked at El Camino for over 20 years, said.

Penn said her first reaction when she first heard it on the news was, “Oh my God, on campus? She didn’t deserve that.”

What got to Penn was the fact Hanafusa was an elderly woman and she wasn’t bothering anyone.

“It really touched my heart to where I was really teary eyed. It’s really sad, just for the fact that [attack] happened to the lady,” Penn said.

Penn said she visited the place where the incident occurred when she returned to work on Jan. 2.

“They put flowers and candles down right there….and I just took a picture of it and sent it to my kids,” Penn said.

Tiana Fernando, a 19-year-old nursing major who lives near Alondra Park, said she is scared to return to campus in the spring.

“I know that we’ve had our fair share of crimes, but a murder…it was really shocking to hear about,” Fernando said.

Fernando said she had negative experiences on campus last fall semester, with several people who didn’t appear to be students approaching her asking for money or asking her to donate.

“I feel like they see where I come out from and [they] come right up to me,” she said.

Fernando said her family has had cars vandalized and broken into at Alondra Park, and she’s had a couple of encounters with transients there.

Hazelle Becera, a law major, said a coworker sent her an article about the attack over winter break.

“I read in the article the victim is Asian. So the first thought that I had was: ‘Is it racially motivated?’,” Becera said.

Becera, who is Chinese-Filipino, said she followed the news closely to find out whether the attack had anything to do with race, and it eased her to learn that it didn’t appear so.

“But also now, my second concern was, could this inspire other people to commit something similar on campus? And that was something that worried me moving forward,” she said.

Becera is the El Camino Associated Students Organization’s senator for the library open learning resource. She said the ASO will set up a forum during the spring semester for students to talk about campus safety and what the organization can do to help.

Becera said after what happened, everybody in the library where she works is on high alert.

“They’re watching, they’re monitoring. I’ve noticed that campus police are doing rounds,” she said.

She said El Camino Police are going around campus inspecting buildings, including every floor of the Schauerman Library along with the basement.

“That’s something that maybe has helped me and a bunch of other people feel safe,” she said.

Lack of communication, updates from the college worries community

Maruna said the El Camino administration has not informed the local community of what’s going on.

“We’re the residents here, and we’re all surrounded by that,” Maruna said. “They don’t let anyone in the surroundings know what’s going on.”

Marissa Calderon, an 18-year-old Biology major, is taking in-person classes this winter semester.

Calderon said “it’s weird and scary” being on campus, where anyone can walk in.

“It disturbed me a little bit, knowing that it’s here,” she said about the Dec. 24 attack.

Calderon, who lives in Gardena, said there have been more crimes in her neighborhood recently, as she frequently receives notifications from the app Citizen about assaults that have occurred in her area.

Calderon said she did not receive any messages from the college.

“El Camino didn’t really talk about it at all,” she said.

Kenny Simkins, El Camino’s LGBTQIA+ student success coordinator, said he does not feel threatened on campus, but the Dec. 24 killing does raise concerns, as he didn’t receive any text notifications alerting him of what occurred.

“Those notifications need to be sent out immediately,” he said.

Wiley Wilson, a student services specialist at the Social Justice Center, said his concern is the lack of safety in the old Communications building, which houses the Black Student Success Center, the Social Justice Center, Mi Casa, Foster Youth centers and others.

He said it is “the least safe building on campus,” due to a lack of security cameras.

“Out of all faculty and staff, our safety is the most in jeopardy because of the work we do here,” he said.

Wilson added although the campus police are doing a good job, they can do better.

“Students do not have good trust with the police…that trust has to be developed,” he said.

Ongoing Investigations

The Union contacted the El Camino Police Department.

Sgt. Ruben Lopez said “We’re not going to comment on an open investigation that the Sheriff’s Department is handling.”

The Union tried to talk to several El Camino Police members patrolling the campus on Jan. 8 as well as staff from the Facilities Planning and Services.

Police said they don’t have more information besides what was released from the Sheriff’s Office.

Maintenance staff had one standard answer: “We can’t talk.” The Union asked if there was an order or memo to remain silent about the attack but the answer was still, “We can’t talk.”

Community finds ways to cope with death

The community has found a way to remember and grieve Hanafusa. A memorial or altar has been set up outside the El Camino Gymnasium, where the attack occurred.

The other altar is inside the Schauerman Library, honoring three other loved ones in the community who died, in addition to Hanafusa.

On the library’s altar is a photo of Parrish Geary, El Camino’s dean of student support services who recently died in a car crash on Dec. 28.

Another photo is of Norman Charles Foster Jr, a production specialist at the Industry Technology Education Center who died of natural causes last year.

A mineral water bottle on the altar represents an unnamed student who Penn said “committed suicide earlier last year.”

Hana Oshita, another library technician at El Camino, said she set up the altar last week honoring these four people.

An unsigned note in one of the bouquets dedicated to Hanafusa by the Gymnasium reads: “Prayers for your family. May they find peace.”

This is a continuing story. The Union is working to schedule interviews with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.