Wounded Boy Declared Brain Dead

Sunny Elijah Peralez, the 8-year-old boy shot in the head as he stood just inside the door of a South-Central Los Angeles residence, was declared brain dead Sunday afternoon, doctors said.

The victim of what police called a gang-related drive-by shooting was being kept on life support at County-USC Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The boy had accompanied his mother Friday from their north Long Beach home to attend a cousin’s baby shower at a triplex in the 2100 block of Adair Street.

As family members prepared for bed sometime after 10 p.m., Elijah checked the front door to make certain it was locked.

At that moment, a group of young men, some of whom were gang members, were standing outside, neighbors said.

A car cruised by slowly and someone in it fired a gun, according to an eyewitness, and a bullet struck Elijah in the head.

He would have entered the fourth grade at Birney Elementary School next month.

Los Angeles police disclosed no additional information Sunday about their search for the boy’s killer.