FELIX SANDOVAL - 7 yo - Long Beach CA

LONG BEACH, Calif.—A Long
Beach man is suspected of stabbing his girlfriend and her 7-year-old
son, leaving the woman and the child dead. Police spokeswoman Nancy
Pratt says 30-year-old Peniamina Tomasi was being held without bail
Saturday on suspicion of murder. Police say Tomasi stabbed his
27-year-old girlfriend and the boy Friday night in the apartment they
share with eight children. Officers arrived to find the woman screaming, with multiple stab wounds. Police
say Tomasi hid behind a locked door, and when officers broke it down
they found the boy, who had also been stabbed several times. The child
was declared dead at a hospital. Pratt says the couple has two
children together and each have three from previous relationships.
Penimana is not the father of the boy who was killed. The names of the victims were not released.

A 7-year-old Long Beach boy who was stabbed to death allegedly by his
mother’s live-in boyfriend has been identified as Felix Sandoval,
officials said today.
Long Beach police officers were called to an apartment complex
in the 500 block of East Pleasant Street about 9 p.m. Friday after
reports of a woman screaming, according to a statement released by the
department.
Officers encountered a 27-year-old woman in the complex’s
stairwell who had suffered stab wounds. She pointed to a man standing
in the doorway of an apartment and told officers he was killing her
children, police said. After the suspect closed and locked the door,
officers forced their way into the residence, where they found the boy,
who had sustained multiple stab wounds.
He was taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where he died an
hour later, Lt. Cheryl MacWillie of the L.A. County coroner’s office
said. His mother was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Her
name was not released. The suspect, identified as Peniamina Tomasi, 30, was booked on
suspicion of murder and attempted murder and is being held at the Long
Beach City Jail without bail, police said. Tomasi lived in the apartment with the woman, with whom he had two
children. Each also had three children from previous relationships, and
all eight were inside the residence at the time of the incident, police
said.
The Department of Children and Family Services took custody of
the seven unharmed children, whose ages range from 4 months to 10
years.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Long Beach police detectives at (562) 570-7244.

LONG BEACH — The couple lived in a cramped
two-bedroom apartment with their eight young children, but neighbors
said they always seemed happy. "We never heard them fighting," said neighbor Eni Thompson
on Sunday. "There must have been something serious, because he (the
father) was a really good guy." No one, they said, could have predicted the horror that
occurred Friday night when police were called to the apartment complex
in the 500 block of East Pleasant Street for reports of a mother
screaming, "Help me, help me, he's killing my son!" The 27-year-old woman, stabbed and screaming, directed
police to a man standing in the doorway of a nearby apartment. The man
closed the door and locked it before officers could come inside.
Officers forced their way in and found a 7-year-old boy with multiple
stab wounds. The boy, identified by neighbors as Felix Sandoval, died
at a hospital a short time later, police said. Peniamina Tomasi, 30, was quickly arrested on suspicion of
murder and attempted murder for allegedly wounding his girlfriend and
killing her 7-year-old son. Police said the couple lived in the North Long Beach
apartment near Del Amo Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue with their eight
children — the couple each have three children of their own and have
two small daughters together. The children range in age from 4 months
old to 10 years. Stunned neighbors on Sunday were wondering what could have triggered a man,described as a hard-working father, to allegedly kill a child.

Thompson, whose son played with Felix, said Tomasi worked long hours but could often be seen playing with the children outside.

"He seemed like a good father," she said. "We would always talk because he's Samoan, and I'm Samoan, too."

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Tomasi was quiet and polite.

"He was always nice," the neighbor said. "We're in shock."

Tomasi
is being held in the Long Beach City Jail without bail. He is expected
be arraigned this week in Long Beach Superior Court. Neighbors are planning to hold a car wash to raise money for the boy's funeral expenses.

A 31-year-old
Long Beach man was convicted Friday on all counts for the slashing
death of his girlfriend's 7-year-old son and the attempted murder of his
girlfriend.

Defendant Peniamina Tomasi was charged with one count of
murder and a count of attempted murder for the Jan. 8 attack in which he
stabbed 7-year-old Felix Sandoval to death as Tomasi and his
girlfriend's children looked on in horror.

Tomasi also stabbed his 27-year-old girlfriend before
barricading himself inside the couple's North Long Beach apartment, in
the 500 block of East Pleasant Street, when police arrived on scene.

Long Beach officers found the boy's hysterical and
blood-covered mother screaming, "He's killing my son," just outside the
apartment when they arrived.

The officers forced their way into the apartment and found the boy and Tomasi, who was arrested.

Paramedics rushed Felix to a local hospital but the child could not be saved.

The scene was so horrific for first responders that counseling
sessions were offered to police and firefighters sent to the scene.

The dead boy's classmates at Dooley Elementary were also
offered counseling and a number of the children who attended the school
worked to help raise money to pay for Felix's funeral.

Authorities said Tomasi and his girlfriend lived in the
apartment with their eight children, ranging in age from 4 months to 10
years old. The couple each have three children of their own and two young girls together, neighbors said.

Neighbors said the couple, though they lived in a cramped
two-bedroom apartment, seemed happy and were never heard fighting before
the fatal incident.

One neighbor said the woman and her children moved into the
North Long Beach apartment near Atlantic Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard
about two years ago and Tomasi moved in with his children a year later.

Police also said there had been no records of any other major incidents at that apartment unit within the past two years.

The trial began Tuesday with jury selection and by Friday
afternoon jurors had heard closing arguments and were in deliberations.
The verdict was read shortly before 4 p.m., according to court staff.

Tomasi is scheduled to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Aug. 19 for sentencing, when he faces a possible life term.