ARTESIA : 8th-Grade Student Slain While Riding Bicycle

An eighth-grade student on summer vacation was shot and killed Sunday night while riding his bicycle along a busy portion of Norwalk Boulevard near 192nd Street in Artesia.

Robert Camarena, 13, of Cerritos was hit in the upper body about 9 p.m. by shots fired from a passing car, said sheriff’s spokesman Gabe Ramirez. Camarena was taken to Pioneer Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Sheriff’s homicide investigators said there was no known motive for the crime, but that it appeared to be gang-related.

Cerritos school officials said Camarena was enrolled in the district’s independent study program for students with learning disabilities.

A district spokeswoman expressed sadness at the 13-year-old’s death, and said that she did not know whether Camarena had been involved with gangs.