17-year-old gunned down in Boyle Heights gang shooting, police say

A 17-year-old boy was killed in a gang-related shooting in Boyle Heights over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officers were conducting a traffic stop in Boyle Heights when they heard gunshots and responded to the area near Evergreen and Wabash avenues on Friday just before midnight, LAPD Officer Jeff Lee said. Once there, they found a teenager with a gunshot wound lying unresponsive on the sidewalk.

Paramedics pronounced the young man dead at the scene. Coroner records identified the victim as Ricardo Ramirez of Boyle Heights.

Witnesses told police that two men fled the scene. KTLA-TV Channel 5 reported that two suspects, 23-year-old Joshua Gomez, and a 16-year-old boy who was not identified, were arrested Saturday afternoon.

According to a GoFundMe page for Ramirez’s family, the boy had just started a new job and had stopped by a friend’s house after work. He was walking home when he was shot.

“Ricardo was young and happy, so full of life and always made the best of what he had,” the page reads. “He was innocent and suddenly killed after being caught in the cross fire of a shooting.”

Ramirez’s girlfriend, Sarah Vidovic, told KTLA he was not involved in gangs.

On Sunday, friends and family held a fundraising car wash. Candles, bouquets of flowers and picture frames of Ramirez covered the sidewalk where he was shot.