June 6, 2012
http://albertpeia.com/blackonbrowncrime.htm
Police
are still asking for the public's help in tracking down the suspect who shot
and killed Angel Mauro Cortez-Nava on Monday night as his father cradled the
baby in his arms outside a
The
baby's slaying follows a period of violence between two warring gangs, and
detectives say the slaying appears to be related. Although the victim's father
was not a gang member, he may have been mistaken for one because he was wearing
a purple T-shirt, witnesses and area residents said.
On Tuesday, Police Chief Charlie Beck called the boy's death "an awful
tragedy."
"Gang violence touches everybody," Beck said. "People have to
understand that even though gangs may target each other, victims cross a wide,
broad swath."
The shooting occurred about 7:50 p.m. Monday on the sidewalk near 105th and Hickory streets. The victim's father, Mauro
Cortez, had just donned a purple T-shirt a friend had given him.
"I own a Honda," the shirt said. "Be nice to me."
But as Cortez's extended family congregated outside the home, his stepfather
and stepbrothers urged the 21-year-old construction worker to remove the shirt,
witnesses said. Purple had become a dangerous color since last summer, when the
area experienced a number of shootings involving a black gang known as Fudgetown and a rival Latino gang called
An immigrant from rural
Witnesses say Cortez was still wearing the shirt and holding his son when a
black youth in a dark hoodie rode up to the group on
a bicycle, fired a gun into the crowd and pedaled off. The bullet pierced the
toddler's back and struck Cortez in the upper body. The boy died later that
night at a hospital after emergency surgery, according to authorities.
At an
afternoon news conference, Mauro Cortez spoke briefly to reporters in Spanish, then left the podium in tears.
Deputy Police Chief Pat Gannon held a photo of the child, whom he called
"this beautiful little Angel," and said the city was offering a
$50,000 reward for information leading to the killer's capture. Timothy Leiweke, president of AEG, which owns the Los Angeles
Kings, later offered the additional $50,000.
“During
such an exciting time such as this we can’t lose sight of the importance and
responsibility we all share in keeping our community safe,” Leiweke
said in a statement posted online.
“Our players and staff feel a tremendous obligation to do everything we can to
help find who committed this terrible act of irresponsibility and hopefully
this can contribute to the effort to acquire the information necessary to find
who did this and make sure everyone knows this is unacceptable in our city.”
Anyone
with information about the crime is asked to contact LAPD gang homicide
detectives at (213) 485-4175.
ALSO:
Purple
shirt may have sparked fatal shooting of baby in Watts
Council's
last-minute reward motion in Watts shooting criticized
Fatal
shooting of baby in Watts ‘an awful tragedy,’ LAPD chief says
— Sam
Quinones, Andrew Blankstein and Joel Rubin
Police
Hope to Prevent Escalated Violence After Watts Baby's Killing
NBC
losangeles.cbslocal.com
LA Kings, AEG Raise Reward To $100000 For
Bike-Riding Shooter ... holding
his baby, Angel Cortez, in the
10500 block of