Rescuer of Youth Dies in Shooting

A Good Samaritan who stopped three men from beating a youth became the victim himself Saturday night when one of the assailants fired a bullet into his chest, killing him, according to neighbors and the Long Beach Police Department.

Friends of the dead man, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, said Sunday that he had stepped into an accelerating episode of violence that had its origins in a robbery Friday night.

The would-be rescuer, a 34-year-old construction worker, was shot as he tried to help an out-of-town visitor escape three men who were beating him on a patio behind 3660 Santa Fe Ave.

As they scuffled, neighbors said, one of the three attackers stuck a gun into his chest and fired once. The attackers fled and the visitor escaped to safety, neighbors said.

Left Bleeding on Patio

The man who intervened was left bleeding on the patio.

“They (paramedics) rushed him off like he was alive, but he was dead,” said a man at the scene. Doctors at Memorial Hospital Medical Center in Long Beach pronounced him dead at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.

Long Beach police officers had been at the scene minutes before the shooting to question residents about an earlier attack on the out-of-town visitor.

When the police left, trouble started.

“Three minutes later, the three of them came down and said to the kid, ‘Where are your friends now?’ ” one neighbor said.

People who live near the scene of the shooting said it all began Friday night, when the out-of-town visitor was robbed of $80, some food stamps and his identification.

The next day, the visitor went to 1552 Cameron St. to confront John Nelson, 23, who police said was arrested on suspicion of robbery an hour after the killing.

When the youth demanded the return of his identification papers, neighbors said, three men (not including Nelson) emerged from the house and began beating the teen-ager.

The youth’s friends called the Long Beach police, who neighbors said arrived at 6 p.m. and questioned witnesses.

Neighbors said they told police the attackers had come out of 1552 Cameron St. But they said the officers told them they could not approach the house without backup from other officers. No other officers arrived, and the two officers left, neighbors said.

Police Lt. Craig Jacobs said police were investigating the shooting and said he had no information about the conduct of the officers who were on the scene before the shooting.