
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 2, 1993                   TAG: 9312020026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

PREACHER BEATEN IN RIOTS DIES

Street evangelist Wally Tope wanted to make a difference. The day after riots erupted in Los Angeles, he went into the streets to preach to the looters. His conviction cost him his life.

Tope died Nov. 24 in a convalescent hospital in suburban Pasadena, 19 months after he was beaten into a coma while trying to stop looters, District Attorney Gil Garcetti said Wednesday.

Tope, 54, never regained consciousness after the April 30, 1992, attack in Hollywood.

His death brought to 55 the number of people killed in the three days of riots, which erupted after four white police officers were acquitted of nearly all state charges in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Two were later convicted of federal civil rights charges.

Fidel Ortiz, 22, and Leonard Sosa, 24, have pleaded innocent to attempted murder and aggravated mayhem in the Tope attack and are awaiting trial. Each is being held on $750,000 bail.

Prosecutors were waiting for a coroner's report before deciding whether to file other charges, Garcetti said. Authorities have three years and a day to file murder charges.

Tope, trained as an electrical engineer, had turned to Christianity in the mid-1960s and attended a seminary in Pasadena. He left before graduation to preach on his own, often in tough neighborhoods.

After watching the city burn on the first day of the riots, friends said, he decided to do something about it. Tope went to a strip mall in a rough section of Hollywood and started preaching to people looting stores.

"He did a noble thing. You've got to give him credit," said his brother, Dennis Tope.

"I tell you something, if there's a heaven, Wally will be there. If he's not, the rest of us don't have a ghost of a chance."

Ortiz told police Tope confronted him and told him to repent or go to hell. The men scuffled.

Sosa said he jumped in to help his friend, according to police reports.

Witnesses said Tope was beaten and kicked in the head for about three minutes.

A memorial service was planned Dec. 10 at William Carey University in Pasadena.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB