Boy, 15, Dies After Shooting Himself in Head at School

A 15-year-old boy died a day after shooting himself in the head at Rialto High School, a hospital official said Sunday.

Ricardo Martin died at about 7 p.m. Saturday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Anita Rockwell said.

Martin had been in critical condition on life support since firing a .38-caliber bullet at his right temple before class Friday in the school quadrangle.

A gun was reported missing from his family’s home in Colton, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

The family moved into the new housing tract on Zaragosa Lane in October, neighbors said.

“Oh God, what would make that baby do that?” asked Elaine Beavers, a next-door neighbor. “I feel so terrible about this.”

Some students said Martin was upset over news that he wasn’t going to advance to the 10th grade. But officials in the Rialto Unified School District could not immediately verify that report.

Other students said the boy was teased because of how poorly he was dressed. School officials said he had attended a nearby middle school until October 1996, then left for Mexico. He enrolled at Rialto four months ago.