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Boy Fatally Shot While His Mother Loads Gun

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Times Staff Writer

A Compton woman fatally wounded her 9-year-old son early Sunday when the gun she was loading accidentally discharged as she prepared to defend her family from a prowler, police said.

Jose Ramon Astorga was pronounced dead about 2:30 a.m. at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood. Family members rushed the boy to the hospital shortly after he was shot in the chest in the front bedroom of his Thorson Avenue home, Compton police said.

The woman, identified by a neighbor as Theresa Astorga, grabbed the gun after hearing an intruder tearing through a window screen.

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Aimed Down, Away

Police Sgt. J.L. Faber said the woman aimed the .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol down and away as she pulled back the slide, which thrusts a cartridge into the gun’s chamber. But she apparently did not notice that her son had wandered into the line of fire.

She screamed for help as the boy crumpled to the floor and the intruder fled, Faber said.

Officers determined that the shooting was accidental after interviewing family members.

Neighbor Antoinette Aguilera described Jose as “a nice little boy,” one of the many children who play on the block.

2nd Stabbing at Party

Earlier, a 20-year-old man was fatally stabbed outside a party on South Pearl Avenue in an incident that Compton police said was gang-related.

Juan Torres of Compton was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital after the incident at 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Police said they received a call reporting a stabbing at the party but could not find the victim when they arrived. Hospital officials later telephoned police to report the arrival of the victim.

No suspects were in custody.

Customer Shot

In another violent incident, a gas station customer was critically wounded early Sunday after being shot in the back of the head during a holdup in the unincorporated area of Willowbrook, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

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The 30-year-old man, whose name was not released, was buying cigarettes with a friend at the station in the 1900 block of East Imperial Highway at 12:25 a.m. when they were confronted by three young men armed with rifles and shotguns, Sgt. Terry Judge said.

The man was shot as he tried to run away. He was hospitalized on life-support systems, Judge said.

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