Slain Teen-Ager Latest in String of Hawthorne Shooting Victims

The fatal shooting of a teen-age boy whose body was found Monday night by a passer-by at Zella Davis Park is the latest in a series of shootings in Hawthorne that have injured three other people and resulted in the arrests of three suspects in the last week.

Ramon Gomez, 15, a resident of the unincorporated Lennox area, was found shot to death at the park near Kornblum Avenue and 133rd Street, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Van Mosley.

Mosley said Gomez was shot in the upper torso. Investigators have yet to determine a motive in the killing, he said. The Sheriff’s Department is assisting Hawthorne police in the case.

On Jan. 24, Fotuomaia Wilson, 19, of Lennox and Jessie Blood, also 19, of Hawthorne were both shot while walking east on 134th Street near Hawthorne Boulevard, according to Hawthorne Police Lt. Herb Mundon.

Mundon said the shooting was “definitely gang-related.”

Wilson was shot in the left thigh and lower back, and Blood was shot in the lower abdomen, Mundon said. Wilson, who is in stable condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, was paralyzed from the waist down, hospital officials said. Blood is also in stable condition, hospital officials said.

On Friday, Mundon said, police arrested Lolohea Fonua, 19, of Inglewood in connection with the shooting. He was charged with attempted murder and is being held at the central jail in downtown Los Angeles, Mundon said.

Early Friday morning, Edward Castro, 24, of Hawthorne was shot in the stomach while standing on 134th Street near Hawthorne Boulevard, another shooting that Mundon described as gang-related.

He said he did not know the extent of Castro’s injuries and did not know where he was taken for treatment.

Later that day, police arrested two Hawthorne men, Anastacio Campos and Luis Amezola, both 24, in connection with the shooting. Both were charged with attempted murder, Mundon said.