Boy, 13, Killed as He and Other Youths Play With Gun at Market
A 13-year-old was fatally shot Sunday afternoon as he and two other 13-year-old boys played with a semiautomatic handgun at a corner market in South-Central Los Angeles, police said.
The .380-caliber weapon apparently belonged to the owner of the La Pulga Loca Market on South Vermont Avenue where the shooting occurred, said Los Angeles police spokesman Manny Valladares.
The boys went behind a counter about 2:30 p.m. to play with the loaded gun, Valladares said.
“The boys were left unsupervised by the owner,” he said, adding that he believed the boys worked in the store.
Jose Antonio Martinez was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the chest, Valladares said. He died at 7:10 p.m. after surgery.
Valladares said detectives are investigating the shooting as a possible homicide, with the youth who fired the gun as the suspect.
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