‘Why Did This Happen?’ Another Drive-By : Crime: Frankie Romero, 11, was shot in the head and critically wounded while standing on the patio of his family’s home in Carson. Police say the boy, now on life support, was an innocent bystander.

An 11-year-old Carson boy shot in the head in a drive-by shooting remained on life-support systems Thursday as his weeping father asked: “Why did this happen?”

“They’ve already told us his brain is dead,” said Frank Romero, 43, standing in the apartment where hours earlier his son Francisco (Frankie) Romero lay bleeding. “What a waste of life.”

Frankie Romero was shot about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday while he, his 22-year-old half-brother and some of his friends stood on the patio of the Romeros’ home near the intersection of 228th and Figueroa streets in Carson.

According to police and witnesses, five or six shots were fired at the group from a passing car, described as a late-model, maroon four-door sedan--possibly a Saturn--with four or five males inside.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman described the gunman as 17 to 20 years old, 275 to 300 pounds, with a shaved head and light complexion and wearing a white T-shirt. Authorities said they think the shooting might have resulted from an ongoing dispute between rival tagging crews but that Frankie Romero was not involved in tagging and was an innocent bystander.

Frankie’s half-brother Bobby, who would not provide his last name, and other young men who were at the scene said they had no idea what prompted the shooting.

“They just pulled up and we saw them and we started walking inside,” Bobby said. “Then we heard five or six shots, and the last shot hit my little brother. Frankie fell in the house and I fell on top of him. He started bleeding, and I thought he had just hit his head, but then the blood just started gushing out. He got hit right above the left eye.”

Frank Romero and Frankie’s mother, Hilda Magdalena Salas, 43, were both at work at the time of the shooting. They have lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years.

Sheriff’s Department homicide Detective Tom Kerfoot said it’s unclear if any of the young men on the patio were the intended targets. But he said he is certain the bullet that hit Frankie was not intended for him.

The bullet lodged in Frankie’s brain stem, family members said. He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and placed on life-support systems, but family members said they were told he is not expected to live.

Frank Romero described his son as a happy, active boy who played on several Little League teams. The day before the shooting was his first day as a seventh-grader at Stephen White Junior High School in Carson.

“He’s a real good student, a beautiful athlete, everybody likes him,” said Frank Romero, a chef.

Romero, who had briefly returned to the family home Thursday to talk to detectives after spending the night at the hospital with his son, said catching the assailants “won’t bring Frankie back, but maybe it would help others.”

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau at (213) 974-4341.