Byron Burkhurt career criminal charged in Lancaster road rage shooting of 4 year old boy, Gor Adamyan. Questions are asked how the gunman came to be on the streets following controversy with LA’s new zero bail policy. Man’s girlfriend, Alexandria Gentile who was in vehicle at time of shooting was not charged.
California authorities have arrested two individuals in the road rage shooting of a 4 year old Lancaster boy who hit and killed by gunfire during following a traffic altercation on Friday.
Byron Burkhurt, 29 and Alexandria Gentile, 27, were taken into custody on Tuesday.
Burkhurt, a convicted felon, was identified as the driver of the vehicle who gave chase to a Lancaster’s family vehicle following a road altercation before shooting at them after the family slowed down, killing the couple’s 4 year old son, as he sat in the backseat.
Prior gun related felony
The driver according to the Lancaster District Attorney’s Office was also identified as the gunman who shot and killed the 4 year old boy, Gor Adamyan.
Following his arrest, the DA’s Office booked Burkhurt with murder along with with two counts of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle and five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, ABC7 reported.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 20 at the Antelope Valley Courthouse. According to county jail records, he is being held in lieu of $2 million bail, although prosecutors were asking that his bail be increased to more than $5 million.
Gentile, who was identified as Burkhurt’s girlfriend, was not charged. Jail records show the woman being released from custody Tuesday afternoon, FOXLA reported.
Causing furore were claims that the District Attorney had released Burkhart just days earlier amid the introduction of the county’s zero-bail policy.
Repeat arrests
‘This particular suspect was in custody a week ago for a gun-related felony and they had to let him go because of the new bail laws,’ Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris told KTLA 5.
‘What did we expect? Did we really think our children weren’t going to be the victims of this? Because they are.’
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Burkhart opened fire on a vehicle Friday night in the area of Sierra Highway and East Avenue J.
Officials say a mother and father were on their way to purchase groceries, with their four-year-old son in the backseat, when Burkhart cut them off and then started chasing them. When the family slowed down, Burkart pulled up alongside their car and started shooting, hitting and killing the couple’s 4-year-old son sitting in the backseat.
Prosecutors said eight shots were fired.
The boy who was struck in the upper body was rushed by his parents to a hospital, where he later died.
The boy’s parents, Meri Adamyan and Levon Tantushyan were uninjured,
According to the District Attorney’s Office, a camera in the victims’ vehicle captured images of the suspect vehicle’s license plate. Sheriff’s officials said investigators located the suspects’ vehicle in the immediate area of the shooting and arrested Burkhart and Gentile on suspicion of murder.
Family spokesman Miguel Coronado from Agents of Change said Burkhurt had been arrested repeatedly by the Lancaster Sheriff’s Department and should not have been on the streets.
‘He’s a historical criminal, he’s a domestic terrorist, that’s what he is,’ the spokesman added.
‘The woman was the one who handed him the gun, the boy’s mother told me directly.’
The office of LA DA George Gascon has denied that Burkhart was released on zero bail after a gun incident, but has yet to explain the reasons for his arrests in February and November of last year.
Zero Bail Policy eyed
‘We are aware of false reports circulating that Byron Burkhart was recently booked on suspicion of a gun-related incident and was released on the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s zero bail policy,’ a spokesman said.
‘This report is false.’
Coronado says the Adamyans had recently moved from Glendale to Lancaster in search of a better life.
At least 284 children aged 11 or younger have been killed in shootings this year across the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
A GoFundMe was created to help the family with funeral expenses. As of Wednesday afternoon, just under $70K had been raised.
