On Wednesday, LAPD Robbery Homicide Division detectives and federal agents arrested 62-year-old Clifford "Skipp" Townsend at the offices of 2nd Call, the South Los Angeles violence prevention group he leads, seizing several computers during the operation.

Cellphone video circulating on social media captured the elder Townsend being led into an LAPD squad car.

By Friday afternoon, prosecutors had decided not to bring a criminal complaint against him, according to his attorney and three law enforcement sources who spoke to the Los Angeles Times anonymously.

Instead, the District Attorney's Office filed a murder charge against his 19-year-old son, Kody Townsend.

The L.A. District Attorney's Office alleged on Friday that Kody Townsend used an assault rifle to kill Reginald Foreman, a 2nd Call employee, in August.

According to the district attorney's office, the two men belonged to rival factions of the Crips street gang, and it described the killing as "gang motivated." The younger Townsend had not been arrested as of Friday afternoon but faces one count of murder.

Jeremiah Abdelhameed, 25, who was among those arrested with the elder Townsend, was charged as an accessory after the fact in Foreman's death.

Foreman, known as "Big Ant" or "BA," was fatally shot in August while working with Shamond "Lil AD" Bennett and a 2nd Call team cleaning up a stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard in Hyde Park.

Witnesses said a youth in a medical face mask walked up and started shooting; Foreman ran but the shooter caught him, and some witnesses said the gunman fired into his chest at point-blank range. Bennett escaped without injuries.

Some gang interventionists told the Los Angeles Times the killing may have stemmed from a simmering rivalry between the 111 Neighborhood Crips and Kody Townsend's alleged gang.

The quick turnaround — from a headline arrest with federal agents and seized computers to a full declination within roughly two days — is the striking development.

The Los Angeles Times reports that prosecutors did not explain why they declined the case; a district attorney's office spokesperson declined to answer questions about the decision, and LAPD Lt. Elpidio Orozco said only that the case "remains an active and ongoing investigation."

Declinations can reflect insufficient evidence or a plan to refile after a deeper police investigation, the Times notes.

Attorney Tiffiny Blacknell said in a text message to the Los Angeles Times that she was pleased no charges were filed but "confounded by the LAPD's decision to arrest him," noting Townsend has led violence prevention work for more than 20 years.

Sean Garcia-Leys of the Peace & Justice Law Center warned the arrest and quick rejection could chill collaboration, saying it "can have a chilling effect" on people considering intervention work.

The Times also points to a pattern critics cite: this year LAPD arrested city "peace ambassador" Miguel Angel Alvarez in a body-armor case that was tossed in September.

Skipp Townsend was expected to be released from custody later Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports, and his attorney said he is eager to return to violence-prevention work. Kody Townsend remained wanted on the murder count as of Friday afternoon.

Four others arrested Wednesday — Lenita Sinna Dee Lewis, 28, Shamond Bennett, 49, Nichole Aaliyah Smith, 23, and Abdelhameed — saw charges filed only against Abdelhameed.

With the LAPD investigation still open and prosecutors reserving the option to revisit the case, further developments in both the father's and son's legal exposure remain possible.