Juan Alviso, 23
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* Update: Sheriff’s Homicide Dets. Ken Perry and Dan McElderry have cleared this case. A suspected shooter is in custody.
Juan Alviso, 23, a Latino man, was struck multiple times by gunfire in a double homicide incident in Cudahy that also killed Richard Hernandez. (See below.)
The shooting took place right in front of a school at 9:30 a.m., when classes were in session. The address was 4746 Elizabeth St. in Cudahy. Alviso died of gunshot injuries at the scene. Hernandez was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Ken Parry at (323) 890-5500.
People in the neighborhood said that the two workers had been replacing gutters at a house all week. They were in their white van, which was parked at the curb, when assailants drove by and started shooting. At least one attacker got out of the car to shoot them at close range, execution-style, some neighbors said. One of the workers ran toward the back of nearby houses but was chased down and shot.
The shots--about eight of them, according to one witness--rang out throughout the neighborhood. ‘This is a school, how could this happen right in front?’ said one parent, Angelica Guerrera, waiting for her two children to exit. Some local residents said two gangs have been shooting back and forth in the area over the last couple of weeks.
Student Atzin Morales, 12, was matter-of-fact, arms crossed, watching police take down the crime scene markers. He said the schoolchildren were about to go to nutrition when they heard the shots; they were then locked down in their classes. He said he knew someone had been shot. ‘It sucks,’ he said. ‘You know? It does.’
Family members--including a young woman described as Alviso’s wife or girlfriend, her small child, and an older couple described as his parents-- were brought to view the victim’s body before the coroner’s van drove away. They said they were too emotional to talk.
The older couple were led to the van, went inside only for a moment or two, then walked slowly away arm-in-arm, gripping each other tightly, the man wearing a blue work shirt with a name tag, blue work pants with a spatter of mud on them, and heavy boots; the woman had gray hair swept back in a bun. As they returned to their car, the older man swooned momentarily, and family members clustered around him.