LOS ANGELES – The man who killed the son of a former Oakland city council member while he was a student at the University of Southern California in 2019 was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison on Monday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Ivan Hernandez, 29, pleaded no contest in January to first-degree murder in the killing of 21-year-old Victor McElhaney in a botched robbery.
McElhaney was the son of Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who served on the Oakland City Council from 2012 to 2020. At the time of his death, McElhaney was a senior at USC Thornton School of Music.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement in January that Hernandez’s no contest plea “ensures that the individual responsible for the senseless and tragic murder of Victor McElhaney will face the consequence of his actions.”
“Victor was a promising young 21-year old university student, a talented drummer and active member of USC’s Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, whose life was cut short by an act of pure violence,” Hochman said. “Our office will aggressively seek accountability for those who threaten the safety of our communities, and we will not tolerate such heinous crimes.”
In March 2019, McElhaney had been just outside the USC campus near Maple Avenue and Adams Boulevard when he was approached by three or four men. One of the men shot McElhaney, then the group fled in a vehicle.
The men had tried to rob McElhaney and the friends he was with, prosecutors said.
When firefighters responded to the incident, they found McElhaney in critical condition. He later died at the hospital.
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McElhaney was described as a very talented musician who was already playing at a professional level when he arrived at USC. One of his professors told Bay Area News Group in 2019 that McElhaney’s audition was a “breath of fresh air.”
McElhaney’s death came the same week in 2019 that a Vallejo man was convicted of killing Gibson McElhaney’s grandson Torian Hughes, 17, in 2015.
Hernandez’s restitution hearing is set for June 26, according to the DA’s office.