Police make arrest in Jamiel Shaw Jr. shooting

Los Angeles Police chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa  announced Tuesday that an arrest had been made in the shooting death of  Jamiel Shaw Jr., a promising Los Angeles High School football player who  was gunned down three doors from his home on March 2.
Shaw, who  lived in the Arlington Heights section of Los Angeles, was returning  from a nearby mall and was just three houses from his front door when  two Latino gang members pulled up in a white compact car. They  questioned him as to whether he belonged to a gang.
When Shaw didnt  answer, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot Shaw, who later was  pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Shaws mother, Army Sgt.  Anita Shaw, was stationed in Iraq when she received news that her son  had been killed. She flew back to Los Angeles after receiving news of  her sons death.
At the same time that Shaws parents were  attending their sons funeral at West Los Angeles Church of God in  Christ, Chief Bratton, flanked by Villaraigosa, announced at a City Hall  news conference that Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of the  Hispanic 18th Street Gang, had been arrested and charged in the killing.  Espinoza, who had been released from jail a day before, could face the  death penalty if convicted.  Detectives continue to search for the  second, unidentified person in the vehicle. Espinoza is scheduled to be  arraigned March 25.
It was spontaneous, Bratton said of Espinozas  shooting.  He was a gang member.  He saw someone else he thought was  from an opposing gang and he immediately, almost intuitively, popped out  of that car and shot that young boy twice.
Pausing, Bratton added,  He assassinated him just on the belief that the other individual may  have been a gang member.  That is what we are up against in this city,  sociopaths like that who just got out of jail and within a day had a gun  and in an instant took that young boys life.
During an  announcement that Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner had been appointed chief  of the South Bureau at the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable Saturday,  Bratton denied charges leveled by several audience members that the  recent gang shootings were an attempt to ethnically cleanse the city.   Theres racial tension, yes–but I dont believe that these actions are  an attempt at racial cleansing, Bratton said.  Gang actions take  lives and they fuel tensions between the races.
Villaraigosa, who  also attended Shaws funeral, said that Shaws death had touched the  city deeply.  Jamiel Shaw represented the hope and opportunity of so  many young people in our city.  He was not only a star athlete, he was a  star human being as well.  He was a model for his peers.  He worked  hard, according to his coach.  He played by the rules and set himself on  a course toward college and a limitless future.
After the funeral,  hundreds of friends and family gathered near the Shaws home for a  repast and to reminisce about the teen.
Althea Shaw, the teens  aunt, reflected, Jamiel was the type of person who was the life of the  party.  He would always greet you with a hug and a kiss. Shaw said that  her nephew loved to read the Bible. He would ask me about Isaac, she  recalled.  The last time we talked, he said he was reading the chapter  on Genesis.
Corey Cogman, 14, who attended New Vision Community  Church with Jamiel, recalls, He was a nice person and a good friend. We  would play pool, video games, and basketball in the backyard.
Cogman  said he was about to leave his house to play a game of basketball when  he glanced at the television and saw Jamiels father holding a photo.  Then I looked at the photo and I saw it was Jamiel. The news announcer  said he had been killed. I went into shock, said Cogman.
Keronnie  White, 17, who was on the football team with Jamiel at Los Angeles High  School, recalled, Jamiel was a great kid.  He was a great running back,  he was really, really fast.  Jamiel and I were just talking about what  college we were going to attend together, said White, who added that he  and Jamiel had been close friends.
Shaw was named 2007 MVP in  both his team and the Southern League. The athlete had recently received  calls from recruiters at Rutgers and Stanford universities.