On Sunday, November 23, 2025, 16-year-old Angel Sierra was fatally shot inside an apartment complex in Pomona, California, and despite emergency efforts he died at the scene. Angel Sierra was a 16-year-old male, and public reports have not specified his race or ethnicity. First responders from the Pomona Police Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department were called just after 5:20–5:30 p.m.
to reports of gunfire at an apartment building in the 1300 block of East Pasadena Street/Avenue, south of East Kingsley Avenue. Officers found Angel suffering from gunshot wounds and attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner later identified him by name and reported that he died from gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen.
In the immediate aftermath, detectives from Pomona’s Major Crimes Unit focused their investigation on people inside the residence. Early reports described the incident as occurring in an apartment where family members and others were present, and investigators initially said they were trying to determine whether the shooting was intentional or accidental while emphasizing that they were not looking for additional suspects outside the home. As the case developed, county authorities publicly confirmed Angel’s identity, and regional news outlets reported that earlier statements from police had described the victim as a 16-year-old boy, even though the coroner’s listing did not include his age.
Within days, police announced that a 13-year-old girl had been identified as the person suspected of firing the fatal shot. Pomona police stated that investigators believed this juvenile, described as a 13-year-old female, had committed the murder of Angel inside the apartment unit, and she was taken into custody and transported to Juvenile Hall. Separate coverage attributed to Los Angeles County public-information officials indicated that the girl, from Long Beach, was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter on Monday, November 24, one day after the shooting. Authorities have not released her name because of her age, and police have said that the relationship between Angel and the suspect, if any, has not been made public. Investigators have also stated that the motive for the shooting remains unknown, and no further details about what led up to the gunfire have been officially disclosed.
Angel’s death quickly resonated beyond the initial crime reports. A Gun Violence Memorial entry lists him as having been “lost to gun violence” on November 23, 2025, in Pomona, California, pulling together links to the regional news coverage of his killing. On a GoFundMe campaign organized by his mother, Michelle Sardaneta, she wrote that Angel Jeremiah Sierra was born on February 12, 2009, and described him as a loving, kind, and joyful presence whose life ended far too soon, with the fundraiser dedicated to covering memorial and funeral costs that the family had not been prepared to face. Online tributes and virtual candles have been created in his memory, reflecting a grieving community trying to honor a teenager whose death became one of Pomona’s recorded homicides for 2025 while police and prosecutors continue to sort out exactly how and why the shooting happened.
