A jury in Long Beach today found a man guilty of murder for shooting a 17-year-old Poly High School student to death for reasons that remain a mystery.
Long Beach resident Troy Lamar Fox, 34, now faces over 100 years to life in prison at an upcoming sentencing hearing, according to prosecutors.
Briana Soto, who was described as a cheerful and upbeat student, had just clocked out of her job at McDonald’s and was walking home when she was fatally shot near the intersection of 11th Street and Lewis Avenue at about 8:22 p.m. on March 26, 2024, prosecutors said. She was so close to home at the time that her mother heard the shots, according to police.
Police said previously that it didn’t appear Fox had any prior relationship with Soto. He did not appear to interact with her at all before the shooting.
During the trial, prosecutors did not present evidence of a potential motive for Soto’s killing.
Fox’s conviction hinged on DNA evidence and an interrogation room identification from his ex-girlfriend.
A senior criminologist testified during the trial that DNA collected from one of the four bullet casings at the murder scene returned a match for Fox.
Homicide detectives also tried to track the suspected shooter’s movements by collecting video footage from around the scene, but they lost track of the shooter on video near 11th Street and Lime Avenue, where prosecutors say Fox’s girlfriend, Tyrisha Hawkins, lived at the time.
Detectives arrested Hawkins on a weapons charge nearly six months after Soto’s killing.
In an interview captured on video with detectives in September, Hawkins said the man shown in the security camera clips matched Fox’s walk and had on black, white and red Nike Jordan 11s, which Fox also owned at the time.
Hawkins also testified that Fox had access to her Nissan, which prosecutors allege Fox used to carry out a separate shooting in a parking lot near 14th Street and Pine Avenue on the morning of April 9, when Fox allegedly fired at, but missed, four teenagers as they drove away.
Prosecutors alleged that Fox fired 13 rounds during the April shooting.
At the time of both shootings, Fox had a warrant out for his arrest dating back to November 2023, when he allegedly violated the terms of his conditional release related to a conviction of illegal weapons possession, police said.
On Friday, Fox was found guilty of one count of premeditated murder, four counts of attempted murder stemming from the separate shooting two weeks later and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
His history of convictions dates back to 2013 when he accepted a plea deal on one felony count of making criminal threats in Antelope Valley.
Since then, Fox has also served time for grand theft in 2015 and 2017, felony burglary and grand theft in 2018 along with commercial burglary in 2019.
Outside a hearing last October, Soto’s mother, Ana Morales, said in Spanish that she was only hoping for one thing: “That justice be done for her, that is what I ask.”
Fox is due back in court for sentencing on June 9.