CARSON : Teen-Ager Gets 4 Years for Firing Fatal Shot Into Air

A 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to four years in juvenile camp for firing a shot into the air that killed a 5-year-old Carson boy more than half a mile away.

In a court hearing Tuesday so filled with heartache that even the judge wept, the teen-ager pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter because one of the bullets he fired March 11 hit the 5-year-old.

The teen-ager--his last name cannot be used because of his age--stared glumly at his hands as Long Beach Juvenile Court Judge Pro Tem Preciliano Recendez sentenced him to up to four years in juvenile camp for the death of Adrian Benitez, who died six days after the bullet lodged in his brain.

Before the sentencing, Adrian’s mother, Marta, pleaded through a Spanish interpreter for Miguel to be kept in custody as long as possible.

“I’m still alive, but I’m dead inside,” she said, sobbing softly. “He took away part of my life. I would like the strongest justice possible so that he would pay for all my suffering.”