A shooting Tuesday night in Long Beach left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old girl wounded, police said.
A third victim, a 13-year-old girl, wasn’t injured.
“The shooting that took place last night is absolutely devastating. A young boy’s life has been cut short due to an intolerable act of gun violence”, Chief Wally Hebeish said Wednesday. “While we mourn this loss as a community, our officers will not stop working to locate and arrest those responsible for this tragedy.”
The shooting, which was reported to police at 11:32 p.m., occurred in the 2200 block of Lewis Avenue.
The victims were walking on the sidewalk when they were approached by a vehicle containing at least two male suspects, police said. It wasn’t clear how many suspects shot at the victims but they were gone when officers arrived.
The boy was shot in the upper body and the 14-year-old girl had an injury to her lower body, according to police. Firefighters took the boy to a local hospital, where he died.
Luis Almeida and his family have lived in the neighborhood of Lewis and Hill St. for more than 40 years. He said that police activity in the neighborhood isn’t uncommon but this had been the first time they had knocked on their door to ask about a crime that happened right outside his home.
“I didn’t hear anything, but my wife she said she heard gunshots. But as often as this neighborhood lights fireworks she couldn’t tell the difference when she was watching TV last night,” Almeida said in Spanish.
Almeida said that he and his wife, Berta, know a few of their neighbors pretty well and didn’t recall any kids who are the age of the victims.“Hopefully more information is found soon because it all seems like a tragic situation,” he said.
The coroner’s office has not yet released the name of the 12-year-old victim. Family members identified the boy as Eric Gregory Brown, Fox 11 reported.
Reporter Cynthia Merino and City News Service contributed to this report
