California Schoolgirl’s Death in Fight Ruled Homicide
Published at
Hemera/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — The death of a 10-year-old Southern California schoolgirl after a fight with another student has been ruled a homicide, the coroner said Monday.
Investigators said Joanna Ramos, a fifth-grader at Willard Elementary School in Long Beach, died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Joanna 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.
After the fight, Joanna 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. Joanna was unconscious and not breathing when family members took her to the hospital at about 5:50 p.m., according to police.
“There are times when words do not convey a sense of sadness and loss that we feel. This was one of those times,” Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said Saturday. “It’s hard to understand how this can happen. If you’re like me, you’re also thinking of your own children, perhaps your daughter or your granddaughter, and you get a sense of how precious life really is.”
Outside Willard Elementary School, friends left balloons, candles, stuffed animals, flowers and letters to Joanna.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio