Man Pleads Not Guilty in 14-Year-Old Boy’s Fatal Shooting in Pasadena

A man pleaded not guilty Thursday in connection with the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in Pasadena in January.

Alexis Ibarra, 24, is charged with murder for the Jan. 18 shooting of Damian Issak Montoya, according to the criminal complaint.

The 14-year-old boy, who was shot in the head, died at the hospital two days later, according to online records from the coroner’s office.

Ibarra is also charged with one count of attempted murder involving the vehicle’s driver, according to Ricardo Santiago with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The criminal complaint includes allegations that Ibarra personally used a handgun.

Pasadena police were called to the 1600 block of North Los Robles Avenue, three blocks north of Washington Boulevard, by paramedics who were treating the boy, according to police Lt. Keith Gomez.

Paramedics were in the area on an unrelated call when a man driving a white Toyota stopped and asked for help with the boy, who was sitting in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police.

Detectives determined that the teen was shot at the intersection of Los Robles Avenue and Eldora Road before he was driven to the paramedics, police said.

Ibarra was arrested Jan. 19 by Pasadena police and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.

Officers recovered a firearm and other evidence that allegedly linked him to the shooting, authorities said.

Police said soon after the shooting that detectives were investigating it as a “criminal gang incident.”