Teenager Sentenced for Killing His Friend

A 15-year-old boy who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for accidentally shooting his best friend to death in April was sentenced Thursday to the California Youth Authority.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shannon Presby said that the teen, a suspected member of the Crenshaw Mafia Bloods, had bought the gun on the street for $25 and that he and Denrel Martell Hudggins, 15, were checking it out when it went off, shooting Hudggins in the face.

“They were goofing around,” Presby said. “These are the tragic things that happen when children play with guns.”

Hudggins’ parents lived in Los Angeles, but he had apparently run away and a Van Nuys woman had taken him in weeks earlier, Presby said.

She left him home alone while she went to work, but told him not to have any friends over.

On April 9, he had three friends at the Valerio Street apartment to play video games. The defendant, a childhood friend, was among the visitors.

After Hudggins was shot, his friends ran away. But the defendant returned moments later, called 911 and tried to help him, Presby said.

He left again before the police arrived, then turned himself in to authorities four days later.

“He told the police he was crying and apologizing to his friend after he shot him,” Presby said.

Before the shooting, the defendant had been “out of control” for more than a year, during which time he skipped school, was arrested twice and did not show up for court hearings on the charges against him, Presby said.

There was a warrant out for his arrest for those crimes the day he killed Hudggins.

Thursday’s sentencing was for all three charges. The teen was ordered confined to a Youth Authority facility until he is rehabilitated or turns 25, Presby said.