Two men have been convicted of murder and six counts each of attempted murder for carrying out a shooting in a West Long Beach neighborhood that killed a 69-year-old grandfather as he watered his yard, authorities said.
A jury found Rhyan Burrell, now 25, and Terrel Warren, 28, guilty on Jan. 25 in the October 2018 killing of Jose Raul Corrales Aguilar after a trial lasting more than a week, prosecutor Robert Song said.
They were scheduled to be sentenced on March 13.
The two men were in a Nissan Altima on the hunt for high school-age Hispanic children after a relative of one of the men was assaulted by a group of Hispanic students at Cabrillo High School that Oct. 9, 2018, morning, Song said the evidence showed during trial.
Whether the group that attacked the relative attended Cabrillo was unknown. Long Beach police have said they responded to a call of a fight at the school at about 10:50 a.m.
Burrell and Warren had shown up in the same car hours before the shooting to confront school officials about the assault, Song said. They then drove around the area of Canal Avenue and Summit Street about 3 p.m.
Cameras from a house caught the gold Altima passing through the intersection multiple times, then driving toward a group of children walking home from school. Warren, who Song said was the passenger, fired eight shots from a 9-millimeter gun at a passing car containing two men, hitting one in the back.
Burrell, in the driver’s seat, then fired six shots from a .40-caliber at the group of high-school children, Song said, but instead fatally struck Aguilar.
Both men were arrested weeks after the shootings, with officers finding the .40-caliber gun inside Burrell’s refrigerator, Song said. The 9-millimeter gun was discovered during an unrelated arrest.
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Attorneys representing Burrell and Warren did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Most witnesses said they saw two people in the Altima, while one or two others said they saw three men in the car, Song said.
Corrales was a mechanic and devoted grandfather who cared for his ill wife, family members have said. He left behind five daughters and more than a dozen grandchildren.
Corrales loved to pack up the Volkswagen van to take his family on spontaneous outings. Years later, he did the same with his grandchildren.
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