14-Year-Old Suspect in School Shootings Surrenders to Police

A 14-year-old gang member who allegedly shot four youths Friday at John Adams Junior High School surrendered to police Saturday and was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, authorities said.

Police said the youth’s mother persuaded him to go to the police. The teen-ager, whose name is being withheld by The Times, was arrested Saturday afternoon in the office of his attorney, and was being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall awaiting a hearing.

The suspect is not an Adams Junior High student, police said.

Officers of CRASH, Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, had launched a full-scale search for the suspect after he allegedly fired an automatic weapon into a group of Adams students eating lunch in the school’s cafeteria on 30th Street.

Pedro Lopez, 15, had a bullet graze his head. Cindy Hernandez, 11, and Angel Flores, 14, received leg wounds. All three were treated and released at local hospitals. In a second incident, the suspect, this time on a bicycle, allegedly shot a student who was part of a crowd that had gathered at the school; the 11th grader was treated for a leg wound and released.

Students said Friday that Lopez and Flores are gang members and police said the shootings were gang-related.

Lt. James McMurray of CRASH said the suspect called his mother Saturday morning, and she urged him to turn himself in. His mother called an attorney to handle the matter. Police would not disclose the attorney’s name.

In an unusual move, police released the suspect’s name and description Friday. “Quite frankly, he was in danger from rival gangs,” McMurray said. “And there was a possibility of a confrontation with police. We had to go around his right of privacy.”

The suspect is a member of the Street Villains gang, police said. Street Villains has been active for less than a year and is based on the west side of the Harbor Freeway, police said. The gang was recently involved in a fight in nearby Trinity Park with gangs who attend Adams Junior High.