Youths’ Loud Music Leads Police to Car Stolen in Shooting

Two Torrance teen-agers who were pulled over on a Carson street Tuesday because their car radio was too loud were arrested after a license plate check revealed that the car they were driving had been stolen in Long Beach from a man who was shot during the robbery, sheriff’s deputies said.

The teen-agers were suspected of violating an ordinance that bans the playing of an automobile sound system that can be heard more than 50 feet away. They ignored a demand by a sheriff’s deputy to pull over and drove through a stop sign before complying, according to the sheriff’s report.

A loaded .22-caliber revolver was found under the front passenger seat and a box containing 17 shotgun shells was found in the glove compartment, police said.

Earlier Tuesday, Long Beach police reported that three men brandished handguns as they approached Enrique Corona, 29, who had just entered his car after leaving a Long Beach market. They demanded that he hand over his car and then shot him in the stomach.

There was no evidence that the gun police found when they stopped the two youths driving Corona’s car was the same gun used to shoot Corona.

The two youths were arrested for grand theft auto, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

Police are also investigating possible links between the youths and the burglary of a Torrance pawn and jewelry shop where 37 handguns were taken, Long Beach police said.

“It was determined that the handgun that was confiscated by Carson sheriffs at the time of the minors’ arrest was one of the guns that was taken in that pawnshop burglary,” Detective Ron Burbank said.

The teen-agers, both suspected gang members, are in custody at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, police said.

Police said Corona was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach. Hospital officials would not release information about his condition.