Lloyd Avery II

Lloyd Fernandez Avery II (June 21, 1969 – September 4, 2005) was an American actor. He appeared in John Singleton's Oscar-nominated film Boyz n the Hood (1991) as one of the Bloods who murdered high school football star Ricky Baker (played by Morris Chestnut) and was later killed by Doughboy (played by Ice Cube) in retaliation. In 2005, Avery was convicted of double homicide, and later killed in prison by his cellmate.

Early life
Lloyd Avery was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lloyd Avery Sr. a self-employed service technician and Linda Avery, a stay at home mom who later worked for a bank. Avery has three siblings, two brothers and one sister and grew up in View Park, a working class neighborhood in Los Angeles. Avery attended and graduated from Beverly Hills High School where he played baseball and waterpolo. While in high school, Avery became friends with the children of singer Smokey Robinson, music producer, Quincy Jones and music executive, Clarence Avant. Avery briefly attended Los Angeles Trade-Technicall College and aspired to have a career in music.

Career
Avery became acquainted with director John Singleton, while Singleton was a film student at USC and who went on to write and direct the 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood. Avery was cast in a minor but pivotal role in the film. After the film's success, Avery obtained an agent and frequently went on auditions. He landed a short stint on the hit television series Doogie Howser, M.D.. Avery continued to hone his music career and produced the lead single "Push" on the debut album of singer/actress, Tisha Campbell. The song was also featured in an episode of the popular TV sitcom, Martin. Singleton once again cast Avery in his next film, Poetic Justice (1993).

Avery re-emerged in 2000 starring as Nate in the 2000 film Lockdown and as G-Ride in the 2001 independent film Shot.

Arrest and death
In 2001, soon after wrapping Shot, Avery was arrested and charged with a double homicide for shooting two random people, for which he was sentenced to life in prison. He was murdered on September 4, 2005, in Crescent City, California, at the age of 36, after being strangled by his Pelican Bay State Prison cellmate Kevin Roby as part of a "Satanic ritual that was intended as a warning to God.