Boy, 4, Among Dead In Clearlake Shooting Of 6
CLEARLAKE (CBS / AP) -- Authorities in Northern California on Monday were still looking for two men possibly connected to a weekend shooting of six people that left a 4-year-old boy dead and his mother hospitalized.
Officers found the boy and five others wounded from gunshots late Saturday night during a barbecue in Clearlake, police Sgt. Tom Clements told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
The child was pronounced dead at a local hospital while his mother, Desiree Kirby, is in a medically induced coma at a Sacramento hospital after being traumatized by her son's death, police said.
Kirby was undergoing a second surgery on Monday, her mother, Sunni Forney of Clearlake, told the newspaper. Forney said the boy's name is Skyler.
"I am trying to cope with all this. It's very hard," Forney told the newspaper in an email.
Authorities have not yet released the boy's name.
The remaining four victims, including a pair of 23-year-old brothers, a 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were taken to a hospital and were expected to live. No suspects were in custody as investigators continue searching for Kevin Stone, 29, of Clearlake, who went from a person of interest to a key suspect, police said Monday.
Police later announced that they are looking for Orlando Lopez, 23, also of Clearlake, as a new person of interest.
Clements declined to provide details about the shooting or what role Stone possibly played. The attack did not appear to be gang-related, Clements added.
About 15 people attended a barbecue and bonfire at a house when a noise that sounded like a firecracker came over the fence, said Amanda Gamble, 19, a family relative who attended the gathering, told the newspaper.
Gamble said after she looked to see where the sound came from, she turned back and saw that the boy had been shot.
Gamble said she raced to call 911 while Kirby ran out of the house to check on her son. At least two shooters appeared to have been firing from about 15 feet away, Gamble said.
"We lost a 4-year-old for no reason," she said.
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