Gabriel Lopez was 15 years old when he died on Friday, June 11, 2010, two days after he was hurt in a fight in El Monte. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 3335 Maxson Place. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said Gabriel was found unresponsive on the street in the 3300 block of Maxson Place on the evening of Wednesday, June 9, with blunt force trauma to the head. He was taken to a hospital, where he died at 11:23 a.m. that Friday. In an update, Det. Martin Rodriguez of the sheriff's homicide bureau said Gabriel "got into a fistfight with a 17-year-old Latino." No one else was involved, and "it's believed both were willing participants." Who started the fight was unknown, and investigators determined that the teenagers did not know each other. Rodriguez said "it was not clear what exactly caused him to lose consciousness." There were several witnesses. "The other boy has not been arrested and the district attorney's office has not pressed charges," the report said.
The Daily News reported that the fight happened at about 5 p.m. "on a street just outside the Maxson Pines mobile-home park," and that witnesses said Gabriel "fell to the ground after being punched in the neck." He spent two days in a coma and died at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Detectives said it was unclear whether the punch or the fall killed him. Sheriff's Lt. Mike Rosson said the older boy "could face charges but is not in custody," and that alcohol may have been involved. The Pasadena Star-News reported that investigators would review the autopsy and then decide whether to present the case to the district attorney.
An obituary identifies him as Gabriel Alonzo Lopez, born January 31, 1995, a resident of El Monte. His funeral was handled by Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Whittier.
El Monte is a working-class city in the San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles, crossed by the San Bernardino Freeway and the Rio Hondo. Many of its neighborhoods are dense with families and young people. A fight between two teenagers who did not know each other, on a street outside a residential park, is the kind of event that neighbors and other young people would have talked about for a long time.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Gabriel Lopez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The older teen was identified and interviewed in 2010, but no public record shows whether the district attorney ever reviewed the case. Anyone who was near the Maxson Pines mobile-home park on the afternoon of June 9, 2010, or who knows what led to the fight, may be able to help. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
