Curiosity Gets Boy Shot in Gang Attack

Johnny Romo loves the sound of fireworks, but his curiosity almost cost him his life Thursday night.

Peering out of his La Puente apartment and standing behind a bush to see what he thought was firecrackers, the 10-year-old was struck by two bullets apparently aimed at a group of gang members standing nearby.

His wounds--one in the left elbow and another on the lower left side of his back--were not life threatening. But the wounding of the young boy left many people in the close-knit apartment complex fearful of violence, which they say is on the rise.

Johnny, like many of the youngsters in the complex in the 500 block of Dora Guzman Avenue, thought the sound of the multiple gunshots was just one of the neighborhood’s youngsters setting off some firecrackers left over from Fourth of July.

“It didn’t even sound like a gun; it was much lower,” Emilio Navarro, 17, who lives in the apartment complex, said Friday.

Johnny was sitting in his living room watching television just before the shooting began at 9:45 p.m. He quickly stepped out of the house and was struck seconds later.

His mother, Lupe, was in another room but came out when she heard the commotion.

“They got me, Mommy,” Johnny cried out as he managed to get back inside the house. He was taken by helicopter to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, where he was treated. He was reported in fair condition and is expected to be released today.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives are looking for assailants and two vehicles that may have been involved in the shooting, a blue Honda Civic and a gray Chevrolet van with tinted windows, said Lt. Tim Murakami from the Sheriff’s Department’s Industry station. Navarro said some people saw a blue truck speeding off shortly after the gunshots were fired.

About six or seven shots were fired, according to police, but neighbors said they heard as many as 15.

Pedro Peralta, 13, a close friend of Romo, was almost caught in the middle. Pedro lives in the house closest to where the shooting occurred, but did not go outside. He went next door to see what happened and saw Johnny in his living room “turning yellow” and his clothes drenched in blood.

Word quickly spread throughout the complex.

Residents of the Villa Las Brisas apartments are close, and most tenants of the 103-unit, 25-building apartment know Johnny. They know of his love of soccer and homemade quesadillas.

Johnny’s love of fireworks and his tendency to run outside when he heard them go off was well known, and he had been cautioned to stay inside when strange vehicles began to pass through the neighborhood.

His best friend, 11-year-old Johnny Segoviano, was stunned to hear about the incident. Just the day before the shooting, he and a few of the neighborhood youngsters lit their last firecrackers from the holiday.

Most tenants know about the possibility of violence in the complex. “I’ve seen it a lot of times,” said Navarro, pointing down the street to where another shooting incident occurred months earlier.

Children normally play outside most of the day, but go inside shortly after dark because of gang members who hang out nearby.

The Romos moved from El Monte to La Puente after their oldest son, Lucio Jr., was killed in a gang-related shooting July 2, 1995, in Baldwin Park.