1 Killed, 1 Wounded in Long Beach Shootings

A 15-year-old boy was wounded and a man was fatally injured in central Long Beach in a pair of shootings 35 minutes apart that police said Wednesday appeared to be unrelated attacks.

The first shooting occurred at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday near 20th Street and Long Beach Boulevard, where the teenager was walking down the street with friends. He was shot in a leg by one of two men in a black Acura, a police spokesman said. Detectives had found no sign that the victim was a gang member, but suspected that his assailants might be, the spokesman said.

Officer Greg Schirmer said the victim, a Long Beach resident, was not being identified because he is a juvenile and because doing so might make him a retaliation target.

Before the victim was shot, the occupants in the Acura asked him where he was from, which is typically code for asking someone’s gang affiliation, Schirmer said.

The second shooting happened a few miles away at 5:45 p.m. Javier Isas, 21, of Long Beach was standing in front of a house in the 1800 block of Olive Avenue near Pacific Coast Highway when a man on a bicycle pedaled up, “words were exchanged,” and the cyclist fired several shots at Isas with a handgun, Schirmer said.

Officers summoned to the scene found Isas still alive, wounded twice in the torso and lying on the ground. He died several hours later at a nearby hospital.

Schirmer said he had no other information about the victims, and that investigators were asking for the public’s help.

Anyone with information about either shooting is asked to call Det. Richard Birdsall at (562) 570-7244.