2 Arrested in Death of Boy, 3, in Mobile Home

A 19-year-old man and 17-year-old youth have been arrested on suspicion of murder in the slaying of a 3-year-old Compton boy, police said Wednesday.

Officials arrested the teen-agers Monday night, hours after young Andres Soto died at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center from a gunshot wound to the head. The 17-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age, was booked on suspicion of murder at the Compton Police Department and later transferred to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, said Sgt. Danny Sneed. The second suspect, Victor Gonzales, was being held in the County Jail, where he was awaiting a court hearing on several thousand dollars worth of traffic warrants. Detectives added suspicion of murder to his booking forms.

Andres and his father, Tedoro Soto, 36, were asleep in his father’s mobile home on Sept. 13 when a shotgun blast ripped through the wall and hit the child in the head. Police said the suspects claimed the weapon discharged accidentally.