Teen Charged in Fatal Shooting of 9-Year-Old Pleads Not Guilty

A 15-year-old charged with shooting a 9-year-old neighbor pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter Friday in Orange County Juvenile Court.

Judge Francisco P. Briseno set a pretrial hearing for Feb. 4 and ordered the Anaheim youth kept in custody because of the seriousness of the charges.

He is charged with firing a shot Tuesday that hit Diego Martinez Rios in the head and killed him. He was in his bedroom, and the boy was outside.

Investigators have not released extensive details of the case, but the public defender’s office said the killing was unintentional.

“It’s an accident, a very tragic case,” said Dean Allen, the teen-ager’s temporary appointed counsel. He said he was hopeful the case would be resolved at a pretrial settlement conference Feb. 19.

After Friday’s arraignment, the defendant’s family said the shooting was accidental and that he had no history of troublemaking.

“The boys were playing,” said the teen-ager’s 22-year-old brother, a security guard at the North Gate Market in Anaheim and owner of the gun used in the shooting. “They got a hold of the gun and didn’t know it was loaded.”

The brother said he kept the gun unloaded and hidden. The youth apparently found it, loaded it and unloaded it, not realizing a bullet was left in the gun. He then fired at the ceiling, and nothing happened. Sometime later, he pointed the gun at Diego and fired, the brother said.

Police investigators said they have no evidence that the two youths argued before the shooting, and the district attorney’s office said it does not plan to press charges against the teen-ager’s brother.

“I really feel sorry,” the older brother said, his voice breaking, as his mother, standing behind him outside the courtroom, started to cry. “God knows, I didn’t want this to happen, and I’m really sorry.”