Few Admit Seeing Boy Killed in Park

A teen-age boy was shot and killed at a crowded park in Long Beach on Saturday, but frustrated police said apparent witnesses to the afternoon slaying refused to admit that they saw anything.

“I don’t know how anybody could not have seen it,” said Long Beach Police Detective Mac Lyman, who speculated that fear of gang retaliation may have prompted many witnesses to flee after the 5 p.m. shooting at Recreation Park, near 7th Street and Federation Drive. The first officers at the scene reported “people fleeing everywhere,” he said.

The victim, identified as 15-year-old Daniel Farias, a suspected gang member, was shot once through the head, Lyman said. A few witnesses who saw the incident from a distance gave a sketchy description of the attackers, whom they said were two male Asians, the detective said.