LOS ANGELES " Police were sweeping the city for suspects in the killing of a 4-year-old boy who was shot on a sidewalk on his street near downtown but had made no arrests Wednesday morning, authorities said.
"We're throwing everything we have into this investigation," Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger told the Los Angeles Times.
Roberto Lopez was walking Tuesday afternoon with other children from his home to a community center down the block when multiple shots were fired from about 100 yards away by an unknown assailant, police said.
Lopez was hit once in the upper torso and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, police spokesman Lt. John Romero said.
Romero said the boy was not the intended target. No arrests have been made.
"Everybody's in shock," Romero said of residents in the Echo Park-area neighborhood, many of whom left their homes to watch police process the crime scene.
Police told the Times that the gunfire came from people on foot toward a car that was heading south on Court Street, where the boy was standing.
Officers were interviewing neighbors and looking for evidence such as shell casings.