12:54pm | A man convicted late last month of one count of attempted murder related to a July 2009 incident in which a bullet meant for another man struck a young Long Beach boy in the head was sentenced Monday to 35 years to life in state prison.
James Leland Landrum Sr., a convicted felon, was convicted March 28 of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and of being a felon in possession of a firearm, L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Den Bengston told L.A. Now.
Josue Hercules was playing outside in front of his house with his sister in July 2009 when a bullet hit him in the back of the head.
A fight had erupted nearby in the 2100 block of Earl Avenue near East 21st Street between Landrum and another man in the courtyard of an apartment complex. Landrum pulled a gun on the other man and fired once after the pair had run out into the street, Bengston reportedly said.
The bullet lodged in the then-4-year-old’s eye. His sister reportedly carried him into the house, and his mother, Wendy Andrade, reportedly put her finger in the wound to ease the bleeding as they rushed to the hospital.
The young boy survived, though the extend of any permanent brain damage is not yet known. L.A.Now reported.