TheeBadOne
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http://www.msnbc.com/local/knbc/A1462328.asp?0dm=C236N
POMONA, Calif., 5:21 p.m. PST January 21, 2003 - Family members and friends gathered Tuesday to mourn the death of a 2-year-old boy gunned down by a stranger during an unprovoked attack while eating at a fast-food restaurant.
Sitting on a tattered blue couch in the living room of their home, the boy's parents, Yessenia Rochin and Servando Martinez, huddled underneath a blue blanket and wept.
"He was a very happy child, very loving," Rochin, 25, said of her son in Spanish. "He loved to jump. He was everything for me that child, and they killed him. They killed my boy."
Police said Daniel Moreno, 24, of Rialto, was eating lunch Monday afternoon at a Burger King restaurant when he suddenly rose, approached young Osvaldo Martinez and shot the toddler in the head in front of his mother and two brothers.
Terrified customers and employees scrambled for cover behind the counter and in the kitchen when Moreno opened fire, said Arturo Flores, 22, a Burger King employee.
"I heard the mother screaming in Spanish 'Why did you do this to my son?"' said Flores, who was shaking Tuesday as he recalled the shooting. "She was in shock, she saw her son covered in blood."
The man then reportedly told customers in the restaurant, "I just shot my son," according to a witness account to NBC4.
Moreno and a friend fled the restaurant, but were quickly found by police about a block away at a phone booth. Moreno was shot and killed by police after he told officers "Shoot me, shoot me" and pulled a handgun on them, said Sgt. Joann Crabb.
"When they told him, 'put your hands in the air,' he put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a gun," a witness told NBC 4.
Authorities were waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine if Moreno was under the influence of drugs at the time of shooting, Crabb said.
"It appeared to be unmotivated," Crabb said. "Apparently it was totally unprovoked from what witnesses were saying." The mother of the child said she did not know the suspect.
Rochin's sister-in-law, Sylvia Mero, acted as a family spokeswoman Tuesday while she scrambled to start a fund to pay for the boy's burial costs and psychological counseling for his two brothers, ages 6 and 7, who witnessed their younger brother's slaying.
Mero said the family had not intended to go out Monday, but they ran out of soap, which prompted a trip to the store and a stop at the fast-food restaurant at Osvaldo's urging.
Mero said she went to the elementary school attended by Osvaldo's brothers, Omar and Gerardo, to seek psychological counseling for them. School officials encouraged the family to have the boys talk about the shooting.
At the urging of an uncle, Omar tried to explain what happened.
"Osvaldo was on the floor. My mother wanted to get him, but she couldn't because he was full of blood," Omar, 7, said before he put his face in his hands and started crying.
Family members said Martinez, who polishes wheel rims at a nearby factory, moved his family two years ago to Pomona, which is located about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, from Compton because they believed it would be a safer place to raise their children. Martinez, 29, and Rochin, 25, are both from the state of Jalisco in Mexico.
The friend who was with Moreno at the restaurant and two others were detained for questioning by police, but were released after investigators found they had no involvement in the shooting, Crabb said.
The slaying appeared to be an isolated incident and was not a gang-related shooting, she said. Graffiti was seen Tuesday at the site where Moreno was slain that said "RIP Danny Boy" with gang lingo.
Flores, who has worked at the Burger King for four months, said he was afraid the shooting could be gang-related and would lead to more violence at the Burger King.
The Burger King is located at Holt Boulevard and Fairplex Drive.
The gunman appeared to be on drugs, Flores said. "He killed him just to kill him."
A fund has been established at Washington Mutual bank to help pay for burial costs and psychological counseling for the victim's family. The Martinez Fund account number is 4891544970. The bank's Pomona branch phone number is: 909-623-2491.
POMONA, Calif., 5:21 p.m. PST January 21, 2003 - Family members and friends gathered Tuesday to mourn the death of a 2-year-old boy gunned down by a stranger during an unprovoked attack while eating at a fast-food restaurant.
Sitting on a tattered blue couch in the living room of their home, the boy's parents, Yessenia Rochin and Servando Martinez, huddled underneath a blue blanket and wept.
"He was a very happy child, very loving," Rochin, 25, said of her son in Spanish. "He loved to jump. He was everything for me that child, and they killed him. They killed my boy."
Police said Daniel Moreno, 24, of Rialto, was eating lunch Monday afternoon at a Burger King restaurant when he suddenly rose, approached young Osvaldo Martinez and shot the toddler in the head in front of his mother and two brothers.
Terrified customers and employees scrambled for cover behind the counter and in the kitchen when Moreno opened fire, said Arturo Flores, 22, a Burger King employee.
"I heard the mother screaming in Spanish 'Why did you do this to my son?"' said Flores, who was shaking Tuesday as he recalled the shooting. "She was in shock, she saw her son covered in blood."
The man then reportedly told customers in the restaurant, "I just shot my son," according to a witness account to NBC4.
Moreno and a friend fled the restaurant, but were quickly found by police about a block away at a phone booth. Moreno was shot and killed by police after he told officers "Shoot me, shoot me" and pulled a handgun on them, said Sgt. Joann Crabb.
"When they told him, 'put your hands in the air,' he put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a gun," a witness told NBC 4.
Authorities were waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine if Moreno was under the influence of drugs at the time of shooting, Crabb said.
"It appeared to be unmotivated," Crabb said. "Apparently it was totally unprovoked from what witnesses were saying." The mother of the child said she did not know the suspect.
Rochin's sister-in-law, Sylvia Mero, acted as a family spokeswoman Tuesday while she scrambled to start a fund to pay for the boy's burial costs and psychological counseling for his two brothers, ages 6 and 7, who witnessed their younger brother's slaying.
Mero said the family had not intended to go out Monday, but they ran out of soap, which prompted a trip to the store and a stop at the fast-food restaurant at Osvaldo's urging.
Mero said she went to the elementary school attended by Osvaldo's brothers, Omar and Gerardo, to seek psychological counseling for them. School officials encouraged the family to have the boys talk about the shooting.
At the urging of an uncle, Omar tried to explain what happened.
"Osvaldo was on the floor. My mother wanted to get him, but she couldn't because he was full of blood," Omar, 7, said before he put his face in his hands and started crying.
Family members said Martinez, who polishes wheel rims at a nearby factory, moved his family two years ago to Pomona, which is located about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, from Compton because they believed it would be a safer place to raise their children. Martinez, 29, and Rochin, 25, are both from the state of Jalisco in Mexico.
The friend who was with Moreno at the restaurant and two others were detained for questioning by police, but were released after investigators found they had no involvement in the shooting, Crabb said.
The slaying appeared to be an isolated incident and was not a gang-related shooting, she said. Graffiti was seen Tuesday at the site where Moreno was slain that said "RIP Danny Boy" with gang lingo.
Flores, who has worked at the Burger King for four months, said he was afraid the shooting could be gang-related and would lead to more violence at the Burger King.
The Burger King is located at Holt Boulevard and Fairplex Drive.
The gunman appeared to be on drugs, Flores said. "He killed him just to kill him."
A fund has been established at Washington Mutual bank to help pay for burial costs and psychological counseling for the victim's family. The Martinez Fund account number is 4891544970. The bank's Pomona branch phone number is: 909-623-2491.
At least the shooter was found and dealt with. 
