LA Sheriff Challenges LeBron James To Match Reward Money For Gunman Who Shot Deputies

A gunman shot two deputies outside a Metro train station in Compton on Saturday in what's being described as an ambush attack.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva challenged LeBron James to match or double the reward money being offered for information that leads to the gunman's arrest and conviction who shot two deputies outside a Metro train station in Compton on Saturday in what's being described as an ambush attack. 

In an appearance on the radio show 790KABC on Monday, Villanueva said the county has pledged $100,000 in reward money and two private donors added $75,000. 

He called on James to contribute as well. 

"This challenge is to LeBron James," Villanueva told 790KABC. "I want you to match that and double that reward. Because I know you care about law enforcement. You expressed a very, very interesting statement about your perspective on race relations and on officer involved shootings and the impact it has on the African American community, and I appreciate that. But likewise, we need to appreciate the respect for life goes across professions, across races, creeds. And I'd like to see LeBron James step up to the plate and double that."

Since arriving in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida for the resumed season, James has spoken out against multiple recent shootings of Black men and women, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Jacob Blake. 

Most recently, James delivered an impassioned speech after Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back by police officers multiple times on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, WI.

"Quite frankly, it’s just f---ed up in our community," James said Aug. 24, the day after Blake was shot. "And I know people get tired of hearing me say it, but we are scared as Black people in America. Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified. Because you don’t know. You have no idea. You have no idea how that cop that day left the house.

"You don’t know if he woke up on this side of the bed, you don’t know if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you don’t know if he had an argument at home with his significant other, you don’t know if one of his kids said something to him and he left the house steaming. Or maybe he just left the house saying that today is going to be the end for one of these Black people. That’s what it feels like. That’s what it feels like. It just hurts. It hurts."