When Ronald "Loony" Barron urged a young graffiti tagger to put away his paint cans, he was doing what he viewed as his mission - steering kids away from crime - but he paid for it with his life.
Los Angeles police arrested a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday, saying he would be charged with murder for shooting Barron to death Sunday night after Barron confronted him.
A 40-year-old former member of the notorious Crips gang, Barron in more recent years had become a respected anti-gang counselor who had preached against violence in schools and jails.
"He was all about helping children like the little kid who shot him," Barron's younger brother Anthony Blanks said. "He was out there helping children from making the same mistakes he made."
Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said detectives started working on the case shortly after Barron died of multiple gunshot wounds at a hospital. They soon found a surveillance videotape from a business near the scene of the shooting that showed a tagger at work.
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