One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
10-Year-Old Girl Died After Fighting Another Girl Over a Boy, Family Says
The family of the 10*-year-old girl who died after getting into a fight after school says that the girls were fighting over a boy.
Family members told KTLA that the girl Joanna Ramos and another 5th grade girl arranged to fight in an alley next door to Frances Willard Elementary School in Long Beach. Some distraught young friends of Ramos also told reporters that she had gotten into a fight over a boy.
Later when she got home she complained that her head hurt. "All she kept saying was she had a headache," Joanna's aunt Celina Cervantes told KTLA.
Whether the fight had anything to do with her death later isn't clear. Officials said her cause of death has been ruled as undetermined. The fight lasted just a minute and it didn't leave any visible marks on Ramos: she had no bruises, no scratches and investigators say they believe neither girl got knocked down.
But later that evening a family member rushed Ramos to the hospital, where she underwent surgery and died around 9 pm.
"My sister-in-law rushed her to the ER, and two hours later she's gone. It's just sad. Very sad," Cervantes said.
*A previous version of this post said Ramos was 11 years old, but Ramos was actually 10.