Arrest made in triple shooting that killed 9-year-old boy, father in San Bernardino

Police have made an arrest in a shooting last week at a San Bernardino liquor store that left three people dead, including a 9-year-old boy and his father, authorities announced Friday.

At a morning press conference, San Bernardino Police Chief Jared Burguan said Trayvon Brown, 26, had been arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder in connection with the slaying of 9-year-old Travon Williams; his father, Travon Lamar Williams, 26; and Samathy Mahan, 25.

San Bernardino police said the three were exiting the Superior Liquor & Grocery on Del Rosa Avenue about 9:15 p.m. on July 8, when a man armed with a handgun approached them from behind and shot all three.

“It was 30 seconds to kill three people,” store manager Saifaldin Baji told The Times after the shooting.

The motive for the shooting is not yet known, but Mahan was a known gang member and was believed to be the intended target, police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said. It was unclear what Mahan’s relationship may have been to the boy and his father, she said.

The child’s mother, Ebony Newman, 27, came upon the scene at the liquor store as she and her husband – Travon’s stepfather – and Travon’s two younger sisters were out walking.

She did not realize that her son was one of the victims at first, when someone told her that the dead boy, whose face was covered, was 11 years old.

“I pulled up to the scene, thinking it’s another situation in San Bernardino, and it’s my baby,” she said, crying uncontrollably. “What mom in her mind would think, that’s my baby? This is not right. This is not right.”

The boy’s grandfather, Steven Newman, 52, said the family all lived in the neighborhood. He said the child’s father, the older Williams, was not gang affiliated, and he was unsure how Williams knew Mahan.

“Travon’s dad was no gang banger,” he said. “He was a dancer and a rapper.”

Baji, the manager of the liquor store, said the three victims lived in the apartments behind the store and were regular customers.

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“I would see them every day, five, six times,” he said. “They’re really cool, humble people … laughing, having fun, everything nice.”

Brown is being held on $1.5 million bail and is due in court Monday, San Bernardino County jail records show.

The three deaths – along with the death of another man in another part of town earlier the same evening – raised the grim tally of homicides in San Bernardino this year to 37, putting a city still recovering from a mass shooting in December, well on track for its most violent year since the 1990s.

The recent shootings have inspired community members to organize and rally against violence and to call for change, but other than a lull during several weeks in late spring and early summer, it continues.

In March, another child, 12-year-old Jason Spears, was shot and killed in front of another convenience store – like Travon, just blocks from his home.

Staff writers Paloma Esquivel and Abby Sewell contributed to this report.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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