Long Beach police say they’ve arrested a suspect in the killing of 17-year-old Poly High School student Briana Soto — a mysterious and brazen slaying that “left her family devastated,” the chief of police said in a statement.
Soto had just gotten off work and was steps from her Cambodia Town home when she was shot for reasons that are still unclear on the evening of March 26, police previously said.
Soto’s mother was so nearby that she heard the fatal shots, according to LBPD Chief Wally Hebeish.
“Briana Soto was just 17 years old when she was tragically taken away from her family by a violent individual willing to commit such a reprehensible and brazen act of violence,” Hebeish said in a statement.
The chief said investigators “utilized every available resource” including public assistance, DNA, videos and cellular phone evidence to identify 34-year-old Long Beach resident Troy Lamar Fox as a suspect.
Police said there is “no known connection” between Fox and Soto. Detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the slaying. Police previously said it didn’t appear he had any interaction with her before the shooting, and it didn’t appear he stole anything from her.
Soto’s family described her in an online fundraiser as a smart student and loving sibling. She was “the best sister, friend, daughter and granddaughter,” they wrote.
Long Beach police described Fox as a previously convicted criminal who has “demonstrated a willingness to inflict harm on others.”
Fox, police said, was free from incarceration on Post Release Community Supervision — a form of locally monitored parole — for a conviction of illegal weapons possession. But, the LBPD said, he violated the terms of his release and has had a warrant out for his arrest since November 2023.
Police said they’ve also tied Fox to more crimes after Soto’s death.
On April 9, police allege, Fox fired a gun at a group of three minors and an adult in a vehicle on Pine Avenue. On July 7, they allege, he was arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing a firearm near Pine Avenue and 14th Street.
Once police homed in on Fox as a suspect in Soto’s murder, they searched several locations on Sept. 10, and, with the evidence they gathered, sought an arrest warrant.
They then moved to arrest Fox, who was already in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on an unrelated weapons charge, according to the LBPD.
Police said they’ll soon present their case to the District Attorney’s office for charging consideration.
In the meantime, police said, Fox is being held on $2 million bail.