A four-year-old boy shot dead in a road rage shooting in California is seen for the first time.
Little Gor Adamyan was in the car with his parents Meri Adamyan and Levon Tantushyan as they shopped at the supermarket in Lancaster on Friday when they were shot.
On Monday, 29-year-old Byron Burkhurt and 27-year-old Alexandria Gentile were identified as suspects and arrested following the shooting.
Both were booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on suspicion of murder, the sheriff's department said
The shooting occurred when the family was suddenly stopped by another driver.
According to police, the other driver then chased the family along various streets before eventually stopping next to their car and shooting into the car.
Gor Adamyan was shot and killed in Lancaster on Friday evening in a California road rage shooting
The shooting occurred when the family was suddenly stopped by another driver on Sierra Highway near East Avenue J in Lancaster, California
“During the incident, the suspect driver cut them off and then followed them across multiple streets,” the LASD said.
“While being pursued by the suspects, the victim’s driver slowed his vehicle, at which point the suspect driver pulled over on the passenger side of the victim’s vehicle and began shooting.”
The bullets struck Gor in the upper body as he sat in the back seat. His parents were not injured.
Workers at nearby stores heard gunshots and rushed to help, but unfortunately the teenager died from his injuries on Friday evening.
“His father and mother, who were in the vehicle, immediately transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead,” the sheriff’s office said.
“On that fateful day, while Gor’s parents were out shopping for groceries, an encounter with a suspicious driver escalated into an unimaginable tragedy,” a GoFundMe page reads.
“Gor Adamyan succumbed to his injuries on Friday evening, just ten days before Christmas, leaving his family completely devastated,” the post said.
Family spokesman Miguel Coronado said the family “demands that both suspects be incarcerated for the rest of their lives with no possibility of parole.”
“From what she [the parents] told me Gor was just a happy, normal little boy. “He loved trucks, stuffed animals, just a very happy kid who loved his parents and his family,” Coronado said.
“Now he will never know the experiences of school, the experiences of having friends.” All of that was taken away in a moment of anger. He wasn't even allowed to go to kindergarten.'
“There is absolutely no excuse for this.” “It's just domestic terrorism at its worst,” said Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris.
The suspects were quickly located at a nearby hotel.
“There was a dashcam that caught part of the license plate, and once we had part of the license plate, we were able to track it and trace it to a hotel.”
“We know where they've been, we know where they're going. “So if a crime is committed, we can go back in time and find out where they are,” he explained of the city’s crime-fighting technology.
“The death of this little boy is shocking. A family is now inexplicably without a child who meant everything to them.
“Our streets are no place for this kind of indiscriminate and unacceptable violence.” “I want the suspects arrested for this heinous murder to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law… we cannot tolerate such acts of violence,” Kathryn said Barger, Los Angeles County Supervisor.
At least 284 children ages 11 or younger have been killed in shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Anyone with further information is asked to call the Sheriff's Department at 323-890-5500.