Like Ennis William Cosby, Peter Maloney was in a good neighborhood, in the middle of one of those banal activities that would never have been noteworthy if he hadn't died doing it.
Maloney was walking home with his groceries from Trader Joe's through Toluca Lake, located 10.5 miles from downtown Los Angeles, when a man on a yellow 10-speed bicycle approached him and apparently tried to rob him. The man shot Maloney in the stomach and rode off.Two detectives were assigned to Maloney's case. Twelve are working Cosby's. While the nation's attention is focused on Cosby's tragic death, only those who knew and loved Maloney are focused on his slaying.
From her home in Staten Island, Peter Maloney's mother, Emily, can turn on her television and see the sweetly smiling image of Ennis Cosby. Pictures from the crime scene run repeatedly on every station. But her own son was barely mentioned in the news, even though his death was as brutal and unexpected as Ennis Cosby's.
Maloney's mother knows - regardless of the protestations of Los Angeles Police Department Chief Willie L. Williams - that she and grieving parent Bill Cosby are worlds apart.
"There is a big difference between him and me," Maloney said. "When you are wealthy it is different."
At his press conference to discuss the Cosby killing, Williams tried to make it clear that every murder is treated just the same by the LAPD.
"Even though different homicides may get more public attention, we want to make sure that the public in Los Angeles know that the investigators and the men and women of this department pay as much attention and apply whatever resources we can to each and every homicide," Williams said.