HEMET – A 17-year-old boy and three adults were custody Tuesday in a drive-by attack in which a 5-year-boy was shot, and his grandmother was injured as she fell out of her wheelchair trying to get to the boy.
Romel Matthew Kelley, 18, of San Jacinto; Quan Kyle Police, 18, of Colton; Richard Bernard Mann, 18, of Hemet, and the boy were arrested and booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon charge, conspiracy to commit a felony and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, according to sheriff's jail records.
The adults, held in lieu of $50,000 bail, are set to be arraigned Wednesday. Often in gang-related shootings, the trigger puller is a juvenile. The idea is to avoid adult court if caught. Under state law, juveniles can be kept in custody only until age 25.
The shooting in the 300 block of North Ramona Boulevard occurred shortly before midnight Sunday, Hemet police Sgt. Ted Hoffman said.
A bullet pierced the wall of the home, wounding the boy in a leg, he said. The grandmother fell out of her wheelchair and hurt her arms in an effort to get to the boy, Hoffman said.
Police withheld the names of the victims and the exact address where the shooting occurred, but they said the boy and the woman should be OK.
Investigators said the same house was targeted by shooters twice within 24 hours before the boy was wounded in the third drive-by attack, Hoffman said.
Witnesses told police that the shot that hit the boy came from a white Nissan Altima and, shortly afterward, the suspects were arrested during a traffic stop, he said. A gun found a few blocks from the shooting was booked as evidence in the case, Hoffman said.