Mentally Ill Youth Fatally Shot by Police

A 16-year-old who recently had been held for a mental evaluation was shot to death by police Friday after he held his mother at gunpoint, fired at a passing van and then pointed his shotgun at officers.

Residents reported hearing eight to 10 shots before Brian Burgos fell dead in his neighbors’ frontyard in the 5000 block of Clifton Way.

Police Lt. Tom Lucenti said officers had picked up Burgos three days earlier. In most cases, a person sent for a mental evaluation is held three days, Lucenti said. It was not known when Burgos was released.

The shooting occurred at about 5:30 a.m. in an upscale neighborhood near the Los Coyotes Country Club. Lupe Rivas was driving down the street delivering copies of the Orange County Register when she saw Burgos’ father, Gilberto, and another man outside the house.

“I asked what was wrong, if I could help. He just said his son was ill, a schizophrenic, and had been in a mental hospital. He said he was hoping he would go back.”

When she drove past the house a few minutes later, she saw Burgos holding a shotgun to his mother’s head.

“I stopped for a second to see what was going on, and he saw me and started shooting at my van,” Rivas said. “So I stepped on the gas and took off.”

Police arrived about five minutes later and found Burgos in front of his house with a shotgun pointed at his mother, Josefina. Officers persuaded him to point the weapon away from her, and he began walking away from the house. Police followed him across frontyards and several times ordered him to put down his shotgun, Police Lt. Robert Chaney said. Instead, Burgos pointed the gun at officers, who shot him.

In the minutes after the predawn shooting, a relative comforted the teenager’s mother as she lay on the street, sobbing. His father, clad only in shorts, paced.

A family argument had started the incident, police said, but they would not elaborate. The family did not want to talk.

Floyd Strater, a neighbor, said it was not unusual for police to be called to the house. “They’re a very troubled family,” he said.

Neighbors said Burgos had been expelled from Sunny Hills High in Fullerton and Buena Park High.

Next-door neighbor Al Valencia coached Burgos for two years in the Buena Park Junior All-American Football League.

“I’ve known him since he was 10,” he said. “He was a good kid, kind of quiet.” But as he grew up, Valencia said, “he needed supervision.”

Burgos’ parents own two Mexican restaurants in Compton and Los Angeles. He was the youngest of seven children, Valencia said.

“It just blows me away that this happened,” he said.