Shot Fired Through Wall Kills Boy in Bed : Violence: A man is slain in a Long Beach alley, and his attackers pump bullets into apartment building as they flee.

In the small second bedroom of a dingy Long Beach apartment building, three children were sleeping in the double bed they shared when the first shots echoed through the alley below their window early Thursday morning.

Outside, 36-year-old Steven Robert Callahan collapsed, his body rolling partway underneath an abandoned Buick. His killers kept firing as they fled down the dark alley, pumping round after round into the side of the apartment building.

Police can only speculate that the sounds startled 4-year-old Jermaine Allen Johnson, who sat up just as bullets pierced the wall of his room, leaving holes as big as pancakes and striking the boy in the chest.

Jermaine died early Thursday morning at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach, the victim of what police said was probably a gang- or drug-related shooting. Police said they do not know why Callahan, a longtime Long Beach resident who died at the scene, was outside the apartment. There are no suspects.

The Rev. James Shaw, Jermaine’s grandfather, said that he was thankful the whole family was not killed and that Jermaine’s 2-year-old brother and 8-year-old sister were not harmed as they lay next to him. Shaw said two other grandchildren were in the same bedroom until several hours before the shootings.

“The fact that hurts us the most is that three little children went to bed (last night) and one of them will never go to bed again,” Shaw said.

Police said the shootings happened about 3:30 a.m. Thursday on Santa Fe Avenue just north of Pacific Coast Highway. Sgt. Charles Higley said that at least two people armed with a shotgun and a semiautomatic weapon ran down Santa Fe Avenue, fired numerous shots at Callahan and fled down the alley. Detectives said about 30 rounds were fired, with at least 11 slamming into the side of the apartment building.

Higley said drug sales are sometimes made at the small apartment building in a neighborhood where gunshots, gang fights and prostitution are commonplace. Neighbors described it as a place where young men and women hang out at all hours.

Shaw said that his son, James Shaw Jr., and daughter-in-law, Maxine, moved into the building less than a month ago. James Shaw Jr. was studying to be a minister and after many months of unemployment started a job at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on Monday. Maxine Shaw, four months pregnant, was staying at home with her children.

The elder Shaw said that his son knew the neighborhood was bad, but they were in such a financial bind they had no choice. The apartment manager is a friend of the family and offered to lower the rent.

“It was either that or be homeless,” said Richard Mosley, a relative.

Mosley described Jermaine as a quiet, obedient child who spoke often about going to school “like his big sister.”

The boy had just celebrated his fourth birthday in February.

The shooting outraged many in the neighborhood, where residents said they thought they had seen it all.

On Thursday afternoon, neighbors gathered in front of the apartment building, talking in small groups and counting the bullet holes.

“It was like a war zone out here. The girl (Maxine) was screaming, ‘They killed my baby!’ It was terrible,” said Inez Hunter, the building manager.

“Nearly every week you read about some child that’s been shot,” said Inez Hunter, the building manager. “It just seems as though some child always has to pay for this stupidity.”

“That could have been my 4-year-old,” said an angry Lisa Creekmore, who lives down the street. “When is this going to stop? That boy didn’t have any time to do anything.”

Little is known about Callahan. Some of his friends and relatives also gathered outside the building speculating on what he may have been doing out at 3:30 a.m.

“I think he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said a man who identified himself as Callahan’s uncle.

James Shaw Sr. said his daughter-in-law is refusing to return to the apartment and wants to move elsewhere. However, he said the family cannot afford to move and that anyone who wants to help can call him at his church, the Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ at 3070 Santa Fe Ave., Long Beach.