Jury selection began Monday for a Long Beach teen and a Bellflower man indicted in 2008 on murder charges in connection with a shooting at a massive
birthday party that saw hundreds of youths sprayed with gunfire.
Long Beach resident Izac McCloud was the alleged gunman in the January 2008 attack at the Lakewood Masonic Hall - 5918 E. Parkcrest St. in Long Beach. Though only 16 at the time, McCloud has been charged as an adult and faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted on all counts.
McCloud's alleged accomplice, Bellflower resident Jonzel Stringer, then 19, also faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted on all counts.
The Los Angeles County Grand Jury indictment charging both suspects was handed down on Aug. 26, 2008, but not released until September of that year.
The indictment was expected to speed the trial process in the high-profile murder case, which saw the killings of 15-year-old Breon Taylor, a sophomore at Redondo Union High School, and 17-year-old Dennis Moses, a senior at Jordan High School in Long Beach.
Taylor and Moses were among a crowd of about 400 youths who attended a birthday party for a pair of twin brothers from Long Beach at the Lakewood Masonic Center. Word of the party was posted on a Web site, attracting kids from throughout the region. The facility holds only about 100 people, so the party was closed when a capacity crowd was reached, authorities said.
Still, the massive crowds proved to be a problem as fights broke out at the site, then gunfire erupted from what turned out to be a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. Taylor and Moses - a school mate of McCloud's - were killed and at least one other youth, a 17-year-old boy from Paramount, was injured by gunfire.
Friends of McCloud told the Press-Telegram at the time of his arrest that the shooter was so distraught when he learned his former Jordan classmate was killed that he became suicidal. He and Stringer are each charged with two counts of special circumstance murder and 60 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Because McCloud was a minor when the murders occurred, he is not eligible for the death penalty, the district attorney said.
Long Beach resident Izac McCloud was the alleged gunman in the January 2008 attack at the Lakewood Masonic Hall - 5918 E. Parkcrest St. in Long Beach. Though only 16 at the time, McCloud has been charged as an adult and faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted on all counts.
McCloud's alleged accomplice, Bellflower resident Jonzel Stringer, then 19, also faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted on all counts.
The Los Angeles County Grand Jury indictment charging both suspects was handed down on Aug. 26, 2008, but not released until September of that year.
The indictment was expected to speed the trial process in the high-profile murder case, which saw the killings of 15-year-old Breon Taylor, a sophomore at Redondo Union High School, and 17-year-old Dennis Moses, a senior at Jordan High School in Long Beach.
Taylor and Moses were among a crowd of about 400 youths who attended a birthday party for a pair of twin brothers from Long Beach at the Lakewood Masonic Center. Word of the party was posted on a Web site, attracting kids from throughout the region. The facility holds only about 100 people, so the party was closed when a capacity crowd was reached, authorities said.
Still, the massive crowds proved to be a problem as fights broke out at the site, then gunfire erupted from what turned out to be a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. Taylor and Moses - a school mate of McCloud's - were killed and at least one other youth, a 17-year-old boy from Paramount, was injured by gunfire.
Friends of McCloud told the Press-Telegram at the time of his arrest that the shooter was so distraught when he learned his former Jordan classmate was killed that he became suicidal. He and Stringer are each charged with two counts of special circumstance murder and 60 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Because McCloud was a minor when the murders occurred, he is not eligible for the death penalty, the district attorney said.
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