Witnesses Tell of Shooting of Deaf Brothers

Joey Paul Bellinger, the 16-year-old accused of gunning down two deaf brothers in Granada Hills, killing one of them, yelled, “I smoked him, I smoked him,” as he and four friends sped away from the shooting scene, according to court records.

Search warrants filed in Van Nuys Municipal Court by Los Angeles police during the investigation of the Jan. 28 shooting death of Cesar Vieira, 30, and wounding of Edward Vieira, 25, both of Palmdale, contain statements from three teen-agers who were with Bellinger during the shooting, which occurred after a traffic confrontation.

The teen-agers said they had expected to get into a fistfight with the Vieira brothers, although they knew Bellinger had a gun. They quoted Bellinger as defending the shooting afterward.

“Joey Bellinger kept saying, ‘I should have shot him in the head and killed him,’ ” a 17-year-old girl said in a statement to police. “Everybody started yelling at Joey that they were just supposed to fight. Joey said, ‘Why should we go home with bruises and blood all over us when I made it simple and easy?’ ”

Cesar Vieira, shot in the chest, died a day after the shooting. His brother, hit by bullets in the shoulder and hip, is recovering.

Bellinger, who was arrested two weeks ago after fleeing from his home in Long Beach to Upstate New York, denied the charges of murder and attempted murder at his arraignment Tuesday in Sylmar Juvenile Court.

The youth said nothing during the brief hearing in which he was joined by his parents, Joseph Paul Bellinger Sr. and Phyllis Goodman. The denial--the equivalent of a not-guilty plea in adult court--was entered by his attorney, Gerald L. Fogelman.

It was Bellinger’s first court appearance in Los Angeles since being arrested March 2 at the home of a family friend in Cassville, N.Y. The boy was returned to Los Angeles late Friday in the custody of detectives.

Joseph Bellinger Sr., 40, was charged last week with aiding and abetting a felon for allegedly aiding his son while he eluded authorities for a month. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond.

Juvenile Judge Morton Rochman scheduled a May 16 hearing to determine whether the youth should be tried as an adult. Prosecutors said such a trial is warranted because of the crime’s severity.