Long Beach is asking Los Angeles County to partner with them to create a minimum $25,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest of the person, or persons who shot and killed 12-year-old Eric Gregory Brown III on May 9.
Eric was walking on the sidewalk along Lewis Avenue with two of his friends on Tuesday, May 9 when they were approached by a vehicle containing at least two men, according to Long Beach Police Department reports.
An unknown number of people in the vehicle opened fire on Eric, a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl, according to police reports. Police were called to the area at 11:32 p.m. and found Eric with a life-threatening gunshot wound to his upper body.
The 14-year-old girl had a gunshot wound to her lower body, and the two were taken to a local hospital. The 13-year-old girl was uninjured, police said.
Eric died at the hospital later that night. His killer has not been found yet.
“Our city, our streets, are not safe today because there’s a cold-hearted killer who is on our streets,” said Councilmember Al Austin at the Tuesday night city council meeting. “This type of senseless, horrific violence won’t be tolerated in our city.”
Long Beach is looking to its residents to come forward with information that might lead to the arrest of Eric’s killer. The LA County Board of Supervisors must now approve the reward amount, and Long Beach will have the option to match the funds through private donations.
According to the Pew Research Center, gun deaths among children rose 50% from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, 2,590 children were killed by gun violence.
Typically, the information given to police must help lead to an arrest of the suspect in order for a reward to be given. Rewards for information leading to arrest have a wide variance of success in the United States.
According to Houston Public Media, some places in the U.S. only reward about 15 to 20% of its rewards, while in other places in the country the success rate is as high as 70%.
The reward is considered successful if an arrest is made and the case is closed. Rewards are meant to incentivize the public to come forward with information in the face of their possible fear or intimidation.
“These items do not feel good, but they’re responsibilities we have to do to make sure our police department has the tools that they need in order to lead a successful investigation and ultimately bring those responsible for this crime to justice,” Mayor Rex Richardson said.
A couple of members of Eric’s family came to the city council meeting to thank the public for their support and the City for the proposed reward.
Gregory Brown Sr.—the grandfather of Eric—spoke about his grandson’s aspirations, and the life he was planning for himself.
He said Eric wanted a career in STEM and talked about creating “the next mobile phone.”
“Not only did the city of Long Beach lose someone, but the world lost someone,” Gregory Brown Sr. said.
Anyone with information about the May 9 shooting can contact homicide detectives Michael Hubbard or Jesus Espinoza at 562.570.7244. Anonymous tips can be submitted through LA Crime Stoppers by calling 800.222.8477 or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.
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