California Schoolgirl’s Death in Fight Ruled a Homicide
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KABC-TV/ABC News(LONG BEACH, Calif.) — The death of an 11-year-old Southern California schoolgirl after a fight with another student has been ruled a homicide, the coroner said on Monday.
Investigators said Joanna Ramos, a fifth-grader at Willard Elementary School in Long Beach, died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Ramos died at 9 p.m. Friday. Earlier that afternoon, she and another fifth-grade girl had planned to fight in an alley near the school.
“They were fighting over a boy, just for a boy,” classmate Stephanie Soltero told ABC News affiliate KABC, crying. “It’s just stupid.”
Police said there were seven witnesses to the fight, which lasted less than a minute and didn’t involve any weapons. No arrests have been reported.
After the fight, Ramos returned to her after-school program with blood on her knuckles from wiping a bloody nose. She also complained of a headache, prompting the school to call her parents.
Ramos was unconscious and not breathing when family members took her to the hospital at about 5:50 p.m., according to police.
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