Editing Raymond Washington (section)

===Early life===
Raymond Lee Washington was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 14, 1953, the youngest of four sons to Violet Samuel and Reginald Cecil Washington.<ref>California Birth Index, Name: Raymond Lee Washington, Birth Date: August 14, 1953, and September 8, 1953, Gender: Male, Mother's Maiden Name: Samuel, Birth County: Los Angeles.</ref> His parents [[Marital separation|separated]] when he was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather. He grew up on East 76th Street, between Wadsworth Avenue and [[Central Avenue (Los Angeles)|Central Avenue]]s in Los Angeles' [[South Los Angeles|South Central]].<ref name=laweekly.com/> Washington had a half-brother, Derard S. Barton, from his mother's second marriage. Although Raymond Lee Washington was raised mostly by his mother and stepfather, he was still close to his father's brother, Willard D. Washington, who worked for the [[United States Department of the Interior|United States Department of Interior]] as an analytical chemist from 1959-1968 and as a forensic chemist for the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|ATF]] from 1968-1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obituary information for Willard Donald Washington |url=https://www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obId=2465589 |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

According to neighbors of Washington, he developed an affinity for [[fist-fighting]] as an adolescent, and was constantly in trouble with the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] for various offenses. Washington's mother is quoted as saying, "Raymond was a good kid when he was a boy. Raymond didn't go out of his way to fight or do anything bad, but if someone came to him, he would protect himself. And he was well built. He tried to protect the community and keep the bad guys out. But after a while, every time I looked up, the police were coming to the house looking for Raymond."<ref name=laweekly.com/> Some neighbors remembered Washington differently: Lorrie Griffin Moss, who resided across the street from Washington on E 76th Street, said, "I don't have a whole lot of good to say about Raymond. Raymond was a bully. A muscular bully. He wouldn't let anybody from outside our neighborhood bother us. He would bother us. Raymond could be very mean."<ref name=laweekly.com/> A friend stated that Washington was a good [[American football|football]] player, but never participated as a member of school sports team due to his poor grades. Washington was repeatedly [[expulsion (academia)|expelled]] from schools resulting in frequent transfers, attending [[Locke High School]], [[John C. Fremont High School]], an [[alternative school]] attached to [[Washington Preparatory High School]], and [[Fairfax High School (Los Angeles)|Fairfax High School]] in the [[Fairfax District, Los Angeles|Fairfax District]] near [[West Hollywood, California|West Hollywood]].