Boy Fatally Shot in Head as Friends Play With Gun

A 9-year-old boy died after he was shot in the head by another child as they and a third boy played with a handgun Tuesday near Inglewood, police said.

There were no adults in the house in the 9800 block of South Hobart Boulevard in Los Angeles when the accidental shooting occurred at about 6:30 p.m., Sgt. Mike Flanagan said.

The handgun was owned by the man who lived in the house, whose son was not injured. Two other guns also were in the house, Det. Rudy Lemos said.

The children, all 9, were playing in the bedroom and were supposed to be doing their homework, Lemos said.

The victim, Levante Evans, was shot in the eye and taken to King-Drew Medical Center, Flanagan said.

It was the same hospital, Levante’s grandmother said, where her daughter--the boy’s mother--had been taken when she was fatally shot in a drive-by attack in November 2000.

Flora Burns, 52, said that her grandson had even been taken to the same hospital room Tuesday night where his mother had died, and that the same police officer had been present both times.

“It’s the same as his mother,” she said.

Burns said the child who shot her grandson had run home and told his mother what had happened. His mother called police and then went to Burns’ home.

Levante was a fourth-grader at Manhattan Elementary School, his grandmother said, and loved computers and basketball. He played on a community team at Jessie Owens Park.

The child who lives at the home “was in shock,” neighbor Juanita McKnight said.

Detectives had not yet determined whether to press charges against the adults.