Exclusive surveillance video of victims

By Robert Rogers

SAN BERNARDINO - A 9-year-old boy struck in a Saturday night drive-by shooting that killed one man and wounded two teenagers will fully recover from his wounds, police said Monday.

Four people, including the child, were shot in front of a Westside taco stand around 8 p.m. Oct. 20 when someone in a white or gray small car cruised by and opened fire, shedding blood and scaattering the crowd.

The shooting left 22-year-old Deivon McGee lying dead in front of Tacqueria Vasquez, a walk-up fast-food stand near the corner of Medical Center Drive and Union Street.

“I ran out there and I saw Deivon there,” said Joun Seder, a liquor store owner who was chatting with McGee just moments before the deadly burst.

“I tried pumping his chest, but he was shot in the head, blood was everywhere,” Seder said. “He was already gone.”

Seder now has a picture and collection box for McGee on his liquor store counter:

But the 9-year-old, whose fate police said was in doubt the day before, will fully recover, said Lt. Scott Paterson.
“He’s alive and he’s going to survive,” Paterson said of the boy, whom police have declined to name. “He’s recovering after surgery.”

Here is the 9-year-old in a liquor store moments before being shot:

A 14-year-old suffered a wound to his foot and was released from the hospital Sunday. The 16-year-old, whom family members and Seder say was struck in the head, was recovering at an undisclosed hospital after surgery on Monday, Paterson said.

Seder said the 9-year-old, who, like McGee, can be seen on Seder’s store surveillance cameras moments before the shooting, was hit by a bullet that passed through his arm and lodged in his chest.

“His dad said it didn’t hit any vital organs,” Seder said. “He’s going to be okay.”

Seder, who knows most of his customers by name, said he was riffing with McGee just moments before his death about cars and pro football games scheduled for the next day. Seder had a picture of McGee taped to an empty candy box on his counter, a slit in the top for donations to help with his funeral.

Two days after the deadly hail of gunfire - nine rapid-fire shots can be heard in Seder’s store video - a cluster of candles atop a macabre stain marked the violence in front of the taco stand.

Here is the video showing Seder ducking at the sound of shots, which are audible:

Whipping winds and a brown haze from area fires swirled around the neighborhood Monday, as children and adults stopped to gaze at the streetside memorial. It sat just feet away from the concrete-table dining area where the victims congregated before gunfire erupted.

But this neighborhood has been ablaze with violence for years, residents said, with Saturday’s flare-up just the latest incarnation.

Seder noted that earlier this year a young man named Edward Griffin was gunned down right outside his liquor store. A few blocks north, 11-year-old Anthony Michael Ramirez and 14-year-old Jarred Mitchell were killed in separate shootings last year.

“It’s a tough area,” Paterson said, adding that police have no suspects but believe the shooting is gang-related.
“It has been for some time. We have periodic actions between the different gangs in that area.”

The shooting could also factor into political decisions, particularly anti-crime strategies. Operation Phoenix, Mayor Pat Morris’ anti-crime plan, is facing a crucial decision about where - and whether - to expand at a Nov. 19 city council meeting.

Jim Morris, the mayor’s chief of staff, gave the strongest indication yet that the mayor will push for a Phoenix move into the Westside - and that anything less would be unacceptable.

“I think there would be a significant backlash from the community given what has happened in the past 18 months,” of Phoenix operations in another part of the city, Morris said.

“To sort of not take a model that has been proven to be successful in addressing localized crime; to not deploy that (in the Westside) would be downright irresponsible,” Morris said.
-robert.rogers@sbsun.com (909) 386-3855