Friends and family raise funds for family of slain Granada Hills roller figure skater

Friends and family raise funds for family of slain Granada Hills roller figure skater

by Jonah Valdez

More than 150 people gathered Saturday at Northridge Skateland to raise funds for the family of an accomplished roller figure skater who was slain in a Granada Hills alley in July.

While a DJ played music, somber attendees skated along the maple hardwood floor of the roller rink and exchanged stories of Cheyenne Brown, 24, of Granada Hills.

Brown was more or less raised on the rink’s wooden floors: she skated there as a child and competed there as a teen and again in adulthood. At age 16, it  became Brown’s first official workplace.

“We’ve known the family for a long time,” said Courtney Bourdas-Henn, general manager of the rink and organizer of Saturday’s event. “It wasn’t even a ‘would we do it,’ but it was a ‘when we do it.’”

Skating as a part of the Northridge Skate Team, which trains at the rink, Brown won 1st place at the 2019 Southwest Regional Roller Figure Skating Championship and was among the top competitors at nationals. A few months after the competition, Brown was gunned down on the evening of July 22 in an alley in Granada Hills after work.

She recently had worked late nights driving for Uber and as a security guard, her grandfather, Bill Schroeder, has said.

Little is known about the shooting, which left the Granada Hills and roller figure skating communities shocked and confused. The shooter remains at large.

Large photos of Brown were erected throughout the rink on Saturday. A woman, whose daughter is the same age as Brown and skated alongside her as teenagers, walked into the rink and immediately burst into tears upon seeing Brown’s photos, recalled Bourdas-Henn.

The event raised more than $1,700, which will go directly to Brown’s grandparents who had raised Brown, Bourdas-Henn said.

While her memory lives on in those who knew Brown, Saturday’s event was also intended to bring awareness to the open investigation.

“We’re hoping that if anybody saw anything or knows anything, that they call the LAPD,” Bourdas-Henn said.

All credit goes to Jonah Valdez Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com