As he continues to recover, a 12-year-old boy remained hospitalized on Friday, marking one week since he was struck in the head by a stray bullet in the Inland Empire.
Community members are trying to organize help for the boy and his family, especially as they’ve already been facing hard times while experiencing homelessness.
“This kid, he’s a fighter, and we’re being optimistic about the situation,” said Joshua Luster, a corporal with the Ontario Police Department.
As of Friday night, the boy was said to be hospitalized in stable condition.
“I believe he was hit in the back of the head,” said Luster. “It was one single gunshot.”
Officials said that on April 4, while he was sitting in the backseat of his parents’ car at Veterans Park, the innocent boy was caught in a crossfire between two men fighting in the parking lot.
Ontario PD officers arrived and began treating the young victim with life-saving measures before he was transported to a local trauma center in critical condition.
There, he underwent emergency surgery before being taken to a children’s trauma center for more treatment.
According to the investigation, detectives determined that the violence began as a verbal fight between two men in the parking lot of the park and quickly escalated to exchanging gunfire, accidentally hitting the young boy.
Police arrested the suspects and identified them as Damian Marquis Berry, 25, of Victorville, and Anthony Dionte Erwing, 35, of Los Angeles.
“Each has an extensive criminal history involving violent offenses,” noted the department. “Berry is currently on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS), and Erwing is currently on Los Angeles County Probation.”
The sudden bout of violence has Ontario residents on edge, especially as this park is often populated by kids playing out in the open.
Although the boy hasn’t been publicly identified by officials, community members said he is a 6th grader in the Ontario-Montclair School District.
Faculty and community members told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson that the boy is part of an after-school program at the park, which is where many kids and their families come.
“We don’t want the public to feel unsafe at our parks,” said Luster. “We want to let them know that this is an isolated situation and that we’re not going to accept it.”
The Ontario Police Department urged anyone with information regarding this case to contact Detective Gabe Gutierrez at 909-408-1632 or the non-emergency line at 909-986-6711.
In addition, anonymous tips can be submitted to 800-78-CRIME or www.wetip.com.
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