Fugitive Teen Charged With Shooting Deaf Brothers, Killing One

A 16-year-old Long Beach boy was charged Friday with shooting two deaf brothers, killing one and wounding the other, during a confrontation in Granada Hills that began as a traffic dispute.

Los Angeles police said that Joey Paul Bellinger, still being sought, was charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder in the Sunday night shooting of Cesar and Edward Vieira, both of Palmdale.

Cesar Vieira, 30, died Monday morning of chest wounds. Edward Vieira, 25, was treated for wounds to the hip and shoulder.

Police said Bellinger was riding in a car with four friends when they drove up next to the Vieira brothers, who were riding a motorcycle, at the intersection of Devonshire Street and Balboa Boulevard. After a “stare-down contest” between the occupants of the car and the two brothers, police said, the vehicles pulled into a nearby parking lot. The brief confrontation ended with gunfire, according to investigators.

Some details of the incident remained unclear, police said, including whether the deaf brothers’ handicap may have played a role in the confrontation. Police said it appeared likely that the brothers, who had limited speaking skills and communicated largely through sign language, did not understand what was occurring.

Police were able to charge the suspect with the help of two teen-agers who were riding in the car with Bellinger. The youths, who came forward to police at the Devonshire station, have not been arrested or charged in the case.

The suspect was described as a high school drop-out who was reportedly staying with friends in the Hollywood-Fairfax area. The boy had lived in the area until six months ago, when he moved with his family to Long Beach. Police had few other details of his background.

“He is virtually an unknown to us at this point,” Police Detective Ken Crocker said. “He hasn’t been a student for at least a year and a half. He is a transient without a job. We believe he is hanging out in the Hollywood-Fairfax area and that some friends have taken him in.”

Detectives said Bellinger contacted his parents after the shooting, but he has not returned home.

Although the suspect is a juvenile, police said they took the unusual step of releasing his name and photograph after receiving permission from a Sylmar Juvenile Court judge. They said they took the action because of the severity of the crime and the possibility that the suspect may be staying with friends who are unaware of the Granada Hills shooting,

“Because of the severity of this situation, we think this is the proper thing to do,” Detective Mitch Robins said. “We need to get his name out into the community so Joey knows we are looking for him. We want Joey to surrender so there won’t be another problem.”

Also on Friday, the Mormon Church’s Ward for the Deaf in Tarzana--where the two victims attended--announced that a fund had been set up to help care for Cesar Vieira’s two children and wife, who is nine-months pregnant.