Silver Lake Man Killed Monday Called 'Respectful,' 'Athletic,' 'Inquisitive'

Ivan Meza Pedroza would have been 34 on Aug. 16.

But the popular high school athlete many remember as "respectful," "easy going" and "inquisitive"

Police are still seeking . 

He Loved Basketball 

At 6-feet even, Pedroza played forward for John Marshall High School's varsity basketball team. 

A photo shows him wearing the number 21. 

"If you wanted to find Ivan, you would find him playing basketball at the Silverlake Reservoir [courts]," Sara Del Rio, Pedroza's older sister, said.

"He loved building models." she added. "And music. And cooking. And a house full of kids." 

Del Rio and other family members had gathered Thursday in a cousin's apartment in Silver Lake. 

Together for the first time since Pedroza's death, they struggled to make sense of the tragedy. 

Del Rio helped translate for her mother Juana Valadez.

"Whenever I saw him, he always told me he loved me," Valadez said, tearing up. "He never talked back."

Juana Valadez and her first husband came to Los Angeles from Mexico over forty years ago.

She raised her five chidren in Echo Park and Silver Lake at residences on McCollum and Mayberry streets and North Lafayette Park Place.

In the early 1990s, she started working as a cook at Echo Park's l cafeteria. She is still there.

Ivan, like most of her children, attended Thomas Starr King Junior High School and as well as Marshall High.

"[Ivan] had a certain way of disagreeing," added one of her sons, Abraham. "He was very nonconfrontational."

A Young Father 

Pedroza's eldest son, Ivan Jr., now 15, was just three months old when he graduated in 1997. He had another son, Matthew, now 13, soon after.

Steady work was difficult to come by for the young father. 

Pedroza worked at Queen of Angels Hospital for a time as a security guard and PBX operator. 

Some years later, he was also up for a job as an assistant coach at El Centro del Pueblo's youth league, but the funding never came through. 

Robert Aguayo, now Deputy Director of the social service agency , remembers Ivan and his brothers, Aurelio and Abraham.

They played on the agency's early Central City Basketball Association teams.

The league, founded in the early 1990s, consisted of teams from sports and social service agencies in the Echo Park and Downtown area.

"They actually taught us about sports and how they were played," he said, of the Pedrozas and the other athletes that he helped coach and counsel. 

"We became the first team to win back-to-back championships in late 1990s," he added. "I always look at these first guys as the ones that helped us build this foundation."

Public Viewing Aug. 9

Ivan Meza Pedroza will be buried in a private ceremony next week.

The public is invited to attend the viewing on Thursday, Aug. 9 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Funeraria Del Angel Bell Chapel at 4677 E. Gage Ave. Bell, CA 90201. 

Pedroza's family also asks you contact them directly at IvanMVP21@gmail.com if you'd like to help with donations or other assistance.