Suspect in Road Rage Killing of 4-Year-Old Had Just Been Released Due to 'New Bail Laws': Report
Anger at a system that lets law-breakers out on the street is boiling over in Lancaster, California, Mayor R. Rex Paris after a road rage shooting left a 4-year-old boy dead.
Gor Adamyan, 4, was killed Friday at about 7:30 p.m. after a road rage incident involving eight shots being fired into the car in which he was riding with his parents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Byron Burkhart, 29, and Alexandria Gentile, 27, were later arrested, according to KTLA-TV.
Burkhart was charged on Tuesday with “one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle, and five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon,” ABC reported, citing the district attorney’s office.
Gentile was originally arrested on suspicion of murder, according to ABC. She was released Tuesday, ABC reported, citing online jail records. No charges against her have been announced, according to ABC.
Paris told KTLA that Burkhart should not have been on the street.
4-year-old boy fatally shot in Lancaster road rage case identified https://t.co/BUKumLBr9I pic.twitter.com/LzSILdp19v
— KTLA (@KTLA) December 18, 2023
“This particular suspect was in custody a week ago for a gun-related felony and they had to let him go because of the new bail laws,” Paris said, referencing Los Angeles County bail laws that took effect in October that put an end to suspects in many crimes being held until they could post bond.
According to a KTLA report from Sept. 30, 12 cities in the county have gone to court to fight the law. The report did not include Lancaster as among those cities.
“What did we expect? Did we really think our children weren’t going to be the victims of this? Because they are,” Paris said.
He told the LA Times that he wished police had shot the suspects “at the apprehension.”
The Times reported that Gentile has an extensive criminal record that includes a sentence of probation in a 2016 domestic violence case. One condition of probation was that she not have a gun for 10 years.
Although the sheriff’s department said the suspect vehicle cut off the family, igniting the incident that led to the shooting, Miguel Coronado, serving as a representative for the family, said it was the other way around.
“Apparently, the family accidentally cut them off. They started following the family. Got in front of them, continuously harassing them. The woman at that time reached for the gun, handed it to the shooter,” he said, according to the Times.
The sheriff’s department said that the vehicle the suspects were in pulled up next to the vehicle in which the child was riding. Multiple shots were fired. One struck the boy in the torso, according to KTLA. His parents took him to a hospital, but he was unable to be saved.
Please read Jonathan Hatami’s post. If you’re a parent, a sibling, or just a human, this should break your heart. A beautiful 4 year old boy was shot to death in road rage last week. His murderer had been arrested on a GUN FELONY a week prior but our lawless “no bail” policies… https://t.co/WDkU1aDhiI
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) December 19, 2023
Coronado told ABC the boy’s mother said that amid the gunfire, her son said “something to the effect that I’m hurt.” Those were his last words.
“From what they told me, Gor was just a happy, regular little boy. He loved trucks, stuffed animals, just a very upbeat child who loved his mom and dad, loved his family,” Coronado told ABC.
“Now he’ll never know the experiences of school, the experiences of having friends. All that has been taken away in a moment of rage. He never even got to go to kindergarten.”
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