Accidental Gunshot Kills Val Verde Boy

A 9-year-old Val Verde boy was shot and killed late Friday when his mother’s semiautomatic pistol accidentally went off as a friend was putting the gun away, police said.

The boy, Joshua G. Sinnock of San Martinez Road, was shot in the head and died in his living room in front of his 14-year-old sister, who had been baby-sitting, and three friends, a boy and girl, 16, and a boy, 17. Police withheld their names because of their ages.

The 17-year-old had taken the .25-caliber pistol from a bedroom nightstand after an argument with a teen-age girl who had left about an hour before the shooting, said Sgt. James Rupsa, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. The youth, armed with the pistol, left the house for about 20 minutes, he said.

When he returned, one of the teen-agers removed the clip containing the bullets from the pistol and put the gun on a coffee table, Rupsa said. One bullet, however, remained in the chamber, he said.

Shortly before 10 p.m., one of the 16-year-old youths picked up the gun to put it away when it accidentally fired the fatal shot, Rupsa said.

Police investigators said there will be no arrests. There was no evidence that the youths were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Rupsa said. The gun belonged to the victim’s mother, who was at the movies, he said.

Tony O’Banion, 11, a next-door neighbor and one of Joshua’s friends, said they had spent much of the summer together riding their bicycles, and had built a plywood ramp to perform tricks.

Tells of Persistence

“If Josh fell and got a bloody nose or hurt himself, he would get back up and jump again so he’d know that he wasn’t scared of doing it,” said Tony, who also played on a softball team with Joshua.

“He was real friendly, a good kid to know,” Tony said. “He liked school, because that’s where he saw most of his friends.”

Joshua, a third-grader at Castaic Union School, liked to shoot pool and play football at a nearby Boys’ Club, according to Tony. “He used to like to listen to rappin’ songs like Run-DMC on the radio,” he said.

The two had hoped to play basketball together on their school’s team when they were old enough, Tony said.

“He wanted to be a truck driver, like his dad,” Tony said.

Accidents with semiautomatic pistols are not uncommon, Rupsa said. “Most people don’t know that when you unload the clip, that there is still one bullet in the chamber.

“It’s a tragic accident.”