Murder LA 000010

by James Cohen

Halloween night, 2011.

Torres

Alejandro Sanchez Torres, age 30, gets his six year old son ready for trick-or-treating. The boy has a hockey mask like Jason Voorhies and wants to carry a knife to look scary. A friend of Torres gives him a bat to take instead.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Sandoval, age 29, looking to sell his Nintendo DS, has arranged a meeting in a Canyon Country parking lot. When he arrives there are three teenagers. He is allegedly robbed and 17 year old Diamonte Jerome McGhee attempts to shoot him but his gun jams. This leads to a struggle.

Torres, passing by with his son, takes the boy's bat and rushes to aid the victim, whom he did not know. At this point McGhee manages to shoot Torres in the chest and Sandoval in the leg before the three teens flee the scene.

Torres' son watches him die.

Sandoval survives.

McGhee and his accomplices were shortly apprehended. A witness stated that McGhee had displayed a gun at a party a few days prior and had reportedly even robbed and tried to shoot someone else just two days before Halloween.

Even though two of the accused are already 18, they were minors when the incidents occured and therefore would normally face juvenile court but have been set to be tried as adults. The death penalty is automatically off the table in such cases so the most they face is life in prison. They have entered pleas of not guilty to over a dozen charges each and will likely face trial this year.

No word on what DS games they wanted to play so badly or whether that was just a ruse.