Marvel star Frank Grillo has condemned the rising crime rate in Los Angeles following the killing of his trainer.
Azuma Bennett was shot several times outside a legal marijuana dispensary in Windsor Hills last Friday morning and died on the way to an area hospital, KNBC reported. No motive for the shooting has been revealed and police have not identified any suspects.
Commenting on the senseless killing, Grillo — who plays Crossbones in the "Avengers" and "Captain America" films — wondered why the attack had even occurred.
"He made everybody feel good about training," Grillo told KNBC of Bennett. "I don’t know what’s happened to Los Angeles that a beautiful guy like this gets shot and killed over nothing."
Bennett worked at Fortune Gym in Los Angeles and trained numerous celebrities including Grillo, UFC fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller and singers Kiana Ledé and Eddie Benjamin, the New York Post reported.
"Azuma was our family. One of the best of the best. We are all so broken," Fortune Gym said in a statement.
"He was always so unapologetically authentic," remarked a close friend, Katrina Brown.
Bennett moved to the U.S. from Australia three years ago. Friends have now set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to send his body back to his home country and his beloved dog to a new home.
"Azuma loved that dog so much and we need to see that she is taken care of in his honor," gym owner Tamara Fortune wrote in the GoFundMe page description.
"Azuma was one of a kind. An outstanding athlete, fighter, teacher trainer, and friend/mate to so many," she added. "We lost one of the best ones out there."
In its statement, Fortune wrote that Bennett did not deserve to be killed.
"He was kind to all that he met and always engaged everyone in the gym with his positive energy and engaging personality."