Neighbors who called police before Kevin Burton was shot believe his death was preventable. NBC 7’s Kelvin Henry has details.
A loud house party in the College East area is likely connected to a shooting Saturday morning that left an 18-year-old brain dead.
Kevin Burton had just graduated from Grossmont High School several weeks earlier when he was shot after leaving a party, his mother told NBC 7.
It happened early Saturday morning in the 4800 Block of Art St., police said in a press release. Investigators have not released the victim's name but the family did confirm the identity with NBC 7.
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According to police, they received a call at 1:45 a.m. about a male with a gunshot wound to his upper body. Around the same time, officers from Mid-City Division were responding to check the area of 6400 El Cajon Blvd. based on multiple radio calls reporting gunshots. They located the scene where the victim was shot. At the time of the shooting, there were many people in the street and surrounding area leaving the party.
As of Sunday, Burton's mother told NBC 7 her son has no brain activity, but is still connected to a ventilator.
His smiling graduation photos were propped up against candles at a vigil in front of Alvarado Hospital Saturday.
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Tragically, some residents told NBC 7, they believe it could have been prevented if police had responded to their noise complaint call hours earlier.
“Heartbroken. Heartbroken. Could’ve changed the story. We believe that if somebody had come down here to control the situation,” said one resident.
One resident told NBC 7 they called the non-emergency police line Friday night to make a complaint about a house party. They said the house consistently hosts loud and rowdy parties, often pushing the couple to call and make noise complaints with police.
“Sometimes they’re like, oh, we have other things that are more urgent. And I understand that but you know what, then this happened,” said another resident.
And just like before, they said, police never showed. At some point after that, police said Burton had been leaving a house party with friends in a car when he was shot. Investigators told NBC 7, his friends drove him to a nearby hospital, but it was too late.
“If something or someone could have come by to just see and check out what was going on. We believe that this could have been prevented,” said the resident.
Now they grapple with the what ifs, wondering if police had responded to their call, would Burton still be here?
“Just to hear that. It’s very unfortunate to lose a life in a situation like this. Young adult. We are on our way to celebrate a graduation for a young adult. Just to have that it’s unfortunate, saddening for that to happen around here,” said the resident.
Burton’s mother told NBC 7 over the phone that Burton had plans to attend San Diego Mesa College, where he had been practicing football over the summer.
She said her son is still on a ventilator but will not survive, as he has no brain activity. The residents plan to ask for a patrol officer in that area.
San Diego police did not respond to NBC 7’s questions regarding the noise complaint allegedly made hours before the shooting, nor the overall history of parties and subsequent noise complaint calls in that neighborhood.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
