Police said today that they’ve arrested five people in connection with the October 2019 fatal shooting of an 18-year-old in North Long Beach.

Authorities say the arrests came after they served multiple search warrants on Aug. 20 at eight different locations in and around Long Beach:

  • John Amos Jackson, 19, of Long Beach; Curtis Jackson, 27, of Bellflower; and Jaquan Adams, 24, of Fullerton were arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of murder, police said.
  • Stevie Ray Deal, a 19-year-old resident of Los Angeles, was already in custody for an unrelated charge, but was also charged with murder, according to police.
  • Kristine Brown, 31, of Fullerton, was also arrested on suspicion of accessory to commit murder, police said.

The victim, Eronald Deas, was on the sidewalk on E. 69th Way moments before a group of three people came around the corner at Muriel Avenue and confronted him, according to neighbors who said they watched security camera video of what happened.

Neighbors said the trio talked to Deas before he ran across the street to duck behind two cars when the shooting broke out.

Police didn’t answer questions about a possible motive other than to say they believe the shooting is gang related. Long Beach police define gang-related crimes as any crime committed “for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with any criminal street gang.”

Detectives presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Aug. 24 for filing consideration, police said.