by TomTom » August 12th, 2004, 8:53 pm
A 9-year-old boy was fatally shot early Wednesday as he lay asleep in his family's northwest Oklahoma City home. THree teenage males were arrested.
Police say the killing-one of 13 Oklahoma City shootings this month as of Wednesday-was gang-related.
David Pekah was pronounced dead at OU Medical Center after being shot in the arm and chest. Two women in the house were injured.
Relatives said Cecilia Castillo, 19, was shot in the neck and shoulder; Tsiannina Barnett, 19, was struck in the foot by an apparent ricochet.
Arrested were Carlos Marquez 19; Steve Lopez, 17 and Salvador Martinez, 16. THey were being held on murder complaints Wednesday in the Oklahoma County Jail.
About midnight, two gunshots startled occupants of the house at 1600 NW 13, said James McSpadden, Pekah's adult brother.
"As soon as we heard that" he said, me and my friend Steven just started grabbing people and shoving them down to the floor. Then we had them down, you know, we ran outside."
McSpadden, who was visiting from Florida, said he vaulted the wire fence outside the corner house. Steven Martin ran across the street to the borders of Mckinley Park.
"Just then we saw a black car come screaming up here(from the west) firing shots".McSpadden said. "THey whipped around the corner-right beside me- and fired more shots into the other wall."
Some of the shots appeared to come from an assault-type weapon, McSpadden said.Two bullets drove through the front window and a brick wall, not stopping until they struck a steel door.
The men ran back inside and found chaos, McSpadden said. With attention focused on Castillo's injury, no one noticed at first that David wasn't moving.
That tears at his mother's heart.
"I didn't know my baby was shot" Margie Diaz said. "I didn't know he was dead in bed, lying there on the couch."
Diaz said her house has been shot up twice in the past six months, including once last week. She blames the shootings on local gang activity.
She said one of her other sons is an admitted gang member.Graffiti on the fence and porch bears, symbols associated with the Juaritos, one of the three largest gang sets in the city.
Police said the suspects are members of another gang South-Side Locos.
"Without going into specifics", said Lt. Greg Taylor of the Oklahoma City police gang unit, "it's going to be gang-related, an ongoing fued between two rival gangs."
"He's a good baby," she said. "He was getting ready to go to school. . THat's all he talked about..... My baby had his whole life ahead of him"
U DONT KNOW ME LIKE U THINK U DO:IF U BUYING I'LL SIT DOWN AND HAVE THIS DRINK WITH U:BUT STILL:U DONT NO ME LIKE U THINK U DO"I WAS STRAPPED AT THE TIME U HAD YO HEAT WITH U:BUT STILL U DONT KNOW ME!!