Students Mourn Boy Shoved in Bus’ Path

A day after a 16-year-old boy was pushed into the path of a bus and killed in South-Central Los Angeles, students began planning to raise funds for the family.

Word spread through Manual Arts High School on Tuesday about Monday’s incident, in which sophomore Luis Garcia was struck a few blocks from the school. Student Juadalupe Canas said a group will go door-to-door and hold a carwash for Garcia’s family.

Police have arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the incident. His identity was not disclosed because he is a juvenile.

Witnesses said Garcia and other teenagers were walking along Vermont Avenue at 39th Place shortly after 3 p.m. when Garcia got into an argument with a group of youths coming from the other direction.

Police said at least two of the boys--both believed to be gang members--shoved Garcia in front of a Line 204 bus, a route statistics show to be one of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s most dangerous.

“I saw the guy being run out on the street with his hands open like he wanted to stop the bus,” said store owner Ray Laleh, flapping his arms to demonstrate.

Police said they did not know if Garcia was a gang member. He was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and pronounced dead, police said.

In Long Beach, just three hours later, the number of murdered teens increased again when Alex Martinez, 15, was killed in a gang-related attack, police said.

Martinez and David Rodriguez, 18, were riding bicycles at Anaheim Street and Pine Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. when a gunman and another man attacked them. Martinez was shot in the head and Rodriguez in the thigh, said Long Beach Det. Tim Cable.

Martinez, of the Lake Elsinore area, died at 11:36 p.m. at St. Mary Medical Center. Rodriguez, of Long Beach, was listed in fair condition Tuesday. A third teen, who was riding on the handlebars of one of the bikes, was not injured. No arrests have been made.

Four hours later, this time in Norwalk, a 12-year-old boy was shot and wounded while watching TV, sheriff’s deputies said.

The boy, whose name was not released, was at home on Alburtis Avenue when shots pierced the window, said sheriff’s Sgt. Thomas Campbell. Mistaking the gunfire as signs of an earthquake, the boy “ran to the front door and got shot in the arm and in the hip,” Campbell said.

He was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center for treatment of gunshot wounds, he said. Police found nine shell casings outside the window. There are no suspects and the motive has not been determined, Campbell said.

Two of three Dorsey High School students wounded in another Monday shooting, near the school in Southwest Los Angeles, remained hospitalized Tuesday. Eddie Gamez, 14, was listed in critical condition, and Aldo Dominguez, 16, was listed in good condition, said hospital spokeswoman Jerri Franz.