12-Year-Old Victim of Freeway Shooting Remains Critical

Richard Bautista, the 12-year-old boy who was shot in the head on his way home from a Dodgers game Friday night, remained in critical condition Wednesday.

“He is essentially the same,” said Dr. Tessie Cleveland, spokeswoman for the Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, where the boy was admitted. “Some of his movements have improved.”

Richard, a model student and altar boy, was on his way back from the baseball game with his cousin and her friend when they were shot at several times from a van on the Harbor Freeway, police said. A bullet pierced Richard’s brain, and the cousin’s friend was grazed, police said.

Police are searching for the suspect, described as a Latino male driving an older model yellow van. “We’re still looking for him,” said Detective Tal Terrell. “We checked eight vans last night, and we have 30 more to go. We cannot afford not to look.”

Police are also trying to find a man driving “a black Lincoln Mark V with wire rims” who stopped a police car shortly after Richard was shot and told officers that he saw a someone in a yellow van shooting at another car.

Police are asking anyone with information to call South Bureau Homicide at (213) 237-1310.