3 young children still need to know who killed dad

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When Leonard James Irving was shot to death on June 26, 2011, he left behind three young children. Now seven years later, his killing remains unsolved.

But not if his mother, Lucy Mashia, has anything to do with it.

“It may not happen tomorrow but it will happen,” she said, “and I personally vow to make it happen.”

Irving was shot to death not long after midnight around NE 82nd Avenue and Thompson street in a shooting that also left 2 other men wounded. Lamar Lovette Hill was shot in the neck and Jeray Lashawn Jessie was wounded in his forearm. Hill and Jessie, each 21 at the time, recovered.

Irving, according to his mother, was celebrating his nephew’s birthday at Seenin’s Bar when family members say he stepped into an argument. That argument eventually led to gunfire. 

No suspects have been identified,” but Lucy believes she knows who pulled the trigger.

“Everybody in the whole community knows who did it,” she said. 

Lucy said the men who were involved with the shooting were in a gang, even though she said her son wasn’t. She said there’s witnesses, but no one has come forward.

“That’s who I blame: this community,” she said, “(who) continues to hold silence to shelter murderers.”

Seven years later, those three children, the ones left behind by their father’s death, are the only thing getting Lucy through her son’s death. 

“They took something from us and we cant get that back,” she said. “We can live vicariously through his kids but it is not the same as having him.”

Lucy said she and her family deserve to have closure, and she’s not going to stop hoping that eventually they will get it.

“The person who killed my son does not get to walk around free while he is laying in the ground,” she said.

“I believe that God is going to make sure they pay for this. He is going to do it. They are going to pay. Somebody is going to come forward. Im going to keep fighting until it happens.”

Crime Stoppers of Oregon have a reward of up to $2500 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible.