On a weed-choked lot in South-Central Los Angeles there is a single palm tree, the only surviving remnant of a fire that put an end to one of the most infamous shootouts in the city’s history.
On Tuesday, 20 years after the gun battle, only Florence Lishey paid tribute.
Lishey had watched from her living room window across the street as, for two hours, police SWAT team members exchanged fire with six Symbionese Liberation Army members, the urban guerrillas who had kidnaped Patty Hearst. A fire, ignited by tear gas, touched off a large cache of ammunition inside the house. Four SLA members died in the house and two others were killed in a shootout with police as they tried to escap.
Lishey, who owned the house and still lives across the street, wandered by the site on the anniversary. She had received compensation from the city and her insurance company. But she decided not to rebuild.
