Landis Lim, 17, was in a garage in Cambodia Town when someone pulled up in a car and opened fire, killing him. Photo courtesy Gelinda Keo.
Landis Lim, 17, was in a garage in Cambodia Town when someone pulled up in a car and opened fire, killing him. Photo courtesy Gelinda Keo.

A 17-year-old boy gunned down last week in Cambodia Town loved skateboarding and kept his family laughing with his teasing sense of humor, according to his mother.

“I just want to let people know he’s an innocent boy,” said Gelinda Keo. She spoke to the Long Beach Post Monday after authorities identified her son Landis Chase Lim as the victim in last week’s deadly shooting.

Lim was in a garage near Lewis Avenue and 11th Street playing video games with a friend Thursday afternoon when a car drove up and whoever was inside opened fire, killing Lim and hitting a woman in the leg, according to two witnesses who asked not to be named because they live nearby and the shooters are still loose.

Keo called Lim, “my nerdy little boy.” Lim spent his free time playing Xbox and had nothing to do with gangs, she said. The family suspects whoever shot Lim was actually targeting a relative he’d been hanging out with that day, Keo said.

Police said they’re still trying to determine a motive.

Gelinda Keo and her son Landis Lim in an October 2016 photo. Courtesy Gelinda Keo.
Gelinda Keo and her son Landis Lim in an October 2016 photo. Courtesy Gelinda Keo.

Keo said Lim was in job-training classes and did some modeling for the skate apparel brand Huf.

“It’s his beautiful smiles that melts everyone’s hearts,” she said.

The family recently moved to North Long Beach from the San Gabriel area, Keo said. Now they’re in mourning. Keo said she and Lim’s three siblings have planned a seven-day wake.

She’s also poured out her grief on social media, posting pictures of Lim and calling for justice.

Lim’s friends have started sending Keo videos they had of him still saved on their phones. Others, she said, sent her pictures of his named recently tattooed on them.

“He was just so loved,” she said. “A good kid. Always puts a smile on everyone’s face.”

https://www.facebook.com/gelinda.keo/posts/2354860304548636

 

Jeremiah Dobruck is managing editor of the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.