5 arrested in connection with Long Beach fatal shooting

Police Friday announced the arrest of five people in connection with a shooting in Long Beach that left a 24-year-old man dead and a woman injured.

The Long Beach Police Department reported three men approached Duwayane Thomas shortly before 11 p.m. on June 3 in the area of 14th Street and Walnut Avenue and “discharged their firearms without provocation,” according to police.

As they fled the scene on foot, the suspects fired shots at the woman, who was driving a vehicle nearby. Thomas and the woman were not known to each other, according to police.

Thomas was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he died of his wounds. Officers found the woman nearby suffering from multiple non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to the upper and lower body, and she was treated at a hospital.

After an investigation, LBPD units served search warrants in the cities of Long Beach, Signal Hill and Los Angeles on Thursday that resulted in the arrests of the five suspects.

Four of the suspects were identified as 21-year-old Filasifoki Xavier Pio of Los Angeles, 19-year-old Santiago Rivera of Signal Hill, 47-year-old Michael Keith Levine of Long Beach and 19-year-old Emery Jezabel Hinojos of Long Beach. The fifth suspect was only identified as a 15-year-old male from Long Beach.

Pio, Rivera and the 15-year-old suspect were booked on one count each of murder and attempted murder. Levine was booked on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a prohibited person in possession of ammunition, while Hinojos was booked for possession of a firearm with a prior juvenile court sustained petition, acting as an accessory after the fact and concealing evidence.

LBPD homicide detectives “believe the motive for the shooting is gang-related,” but no further details were available.

Homicide detectives urged anyone with further information regarding the shooting to call them at 562-570-7244 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

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