Murder charges were filed against a 34-year-old Long Beach man who was on supervised release at the time he was suspected of killing a 17-year-old high school senior only feet from her house in March of this year.
Prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office believe Troy Lamar Fox shot and killed Briana Soto on March 26 when she was walking home from McDonald’s.
The youngster was walking near the junction of 11th Street and Lewis Avenue around 8:30 p.m., conversing on the phone with her mother, when Fox opened fire. “It was her siblings who found her with their mother, so I couldn’t even imagine what they had to go through seeing her on the ground like that,” said Michelle Fierro, who is a neighbor.
Unfortunately, the teen died three days later in the hospital. Even though the 34-year-old fled the scene, DNA, video, and cellphone evidence linked him to the shooting.
According to a news release from the DA’s office, Fox is also accused of shooting on April 9 in an alley near Pine Avenue and heading toward 14th Street. Authorities said in one case, the 34-year-old left a vehicle equipped with a gun and fired multiple shots at a vehicle carrying four youngsters.
He was detained on September 11 in connection with Soto’s fatal shooting and the April 9 shooting while already in detention for an unrelated weapons offense.
The motivation for the fatal shooting remains unknown.
“Briana Soto, a promising high school senior, was shot and killed for no apparent reason,” District Attorney George Gascón said. “She was looking forward to enjoying her 18th birthday and senior prom, but now her family and our community are forced to mourn an unspeakable loss. No parent should ever have to face such a horrible catastrophe. We share their grief and are dedicated to obtaining justice for their daughter and removing a dangerous man off the streets.”
Fox, who is being jailed on $6 million bond, is charged with Soto’s murder and four charges of intentional, deliberate, and planned murder attempted murder for the April 9 incident.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is set to appear in court again on September 24.
If convicted of all charges, he may face life in jail.