A 4-year-old boy was killed Friday evening in Lancaster after a stray bullet struck him. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department told LA Times, that a man shot into a family's vehicle during a road rage incident. The boy was seated in the back and struck by gunfire in the upper body. The boy was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The police said that the fatal shooting took place after the assailants allegedly cut off the family's car on a highway in Lancaster. "It's unimaginable. This could have been any of our families. It could have been any of us," Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
A 29-year-old man and a 27-year-woman were arrested and charged at the Los Angeles County Jail on suspicion of murder, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. The suspects' names were not immediately released.
The violence occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. local time on Friday when the victim's family was driving on the Sierra Highway in Lancaster.
"During the incident, the suspect driver cut them off and then began following them through several surface streets," the LASD said. "While being pursued by the suspects, the victim driver slowed his vehicle, at which time the suspect driver pulled up along the passenger side of the victim's car and began shooting."
The accused fired into the family's car and the bullet struck the child, who was in the backseat, the authorities said.
"His father and mother, who were in the vehicle, immediately transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead," according to the sheriff's statement.
The boy's parents were not injured.
"I know that they attend church regularly, I talked with members of the church they go to," said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Paris told CBS News. "The entire congregation is just devastated."
Mayor Paris states that the swift identification of the suspect was made possible by the recently implemented network of cameras across the city, complemented by the victim's dashcam.
"It's multi-faceted ... we've got cameras everywhere. We've got these 'flock' cameras, and we pretty much know anybody in the city's license plate at this point, so we're able to track it," Paris said. "The message we hope gets out there is: If you're a criminal you probably shouldn't come to Lancaster."
