2024 Los Angeles County shootings

During the late night of February 11 and the early morning of February 12, 2024, three people opened fire from a vehicle in four separate locations in southeastern Los Angeles County. A total of four people were killed, including a teenager, and another teenager was injured. The alleged perpetrators, 17-year-old Deair Delerence, 42-year-old Gary Garcia Jr., and 20-year-old Timberland McKneely, are alleged gang members and apparently shot their victims at random. Another man, 18-year-old Josevian Mendoza, was charged with killing two men alongside McKneely on November 24, 2023, in unincorporated Los Angeles County and Cudahy.

Shootings
At around 11:30 pm PST, at least one of the men fatally shot 24-year-old Kevin Parada on the 6000 block of Bear Avenue in Huntington Park, near Huntington Park Elementary School. A 29-year-old man was also fired upon, but he escaped uninjured.

They then drove southwest to the 1500 block of East Florence Avenue in Florence-Graham, where they fatally shot another man shortly after midnight. The victim was identified as 27-year-old Josue Ramirez.

They then drove east to the 5000 block of Live Oak Street in Cudahy, where they shot two teenagers near the Ellen Ochoa Learning Center. One of the teenagers, 14-year-old Javier Pedraza Jr., was killed. The other teenager, a 13-year-old boy, was hospitalized in stable condition.

At around 2:30 am PST, they then killed their final victim, identified as 43-year-old Omar Mara, a homeless man, in the 6300 block of Santa Fe Avenue in Huntington Park.

Aftermath
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was able to determine, using surveillance footage, that a Honda Pilot SUV was at each location at the time of the attacks. Sheriff's officials posted a law enforcement bulletin, and the vehicle was spotted and stopped by a San Bernardino County deputy later the same day. One of the suspects, Garcia Jr., was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder. Investigators were then able to identify the second suspect, McKneely, and he was arrested by a Los Angeles County Special Enforcement Bureau team in Compton on February 13.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said that suspects are "alleged to have embarked on a random and brutal shooting spree" and that the victims "all appear to have been targeted randomly."

On February 16, it was announced that a male juvenile, later identified on February 22 as Deair Delerence, was arrested in Compton in connection to the shootings.

A vigil was held at the Ellen Ochoa Learning Center in memory of Javier Pedraza Jr. on February 16.

Sometime on February 19, Mendoza was taken into custody for his role in the November 2023 murders.

McKneely has been charged with six counts of murder due to his involvement in the November and February 2024 shootings. Mendoza was charged with two counts of murder for his role in the November shootings. Delerence and Garcia Jr. were both charged with four counts of murder for their involvement in the February shootings.

On February 21, Delerence denied a petition at arraignment during a juvenile court hearing. He is due back in court on March 22 in Compton and will remain detained pending his court hearings. Garcia Jr., McKneely, and Mendoza were held without bail and were arraigned on February 29 in Norwalk. On March 4, the adult men pleaded not guilty, and Superior Court Judge Andrew C. Kim ordered that they continue to be held without bond while they await their next hearing on April 18.