Calif. girl's death after fight a homicide

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- What began as an after-school fight between two young girls over a boy exploded into a homicide investigation yesterday, when authorities said a 10-year-old died of a head injury after the confrontation with an 11 year-old classmate.

The finding rattled a shaken school community at Willard Elementary, where Joanna Ramos was in the fifth grade. She died Friday, about six hours after a brief fight with another girl in an alley near the school in a working-class neighborhood in this port city.

Joanna, who would have turned 11 on March 12, underwent emergency surgery late Friday for a blood clot on her brain after she began vomiting and complained of a headache, said her sister, Vanessa Urbina, 17.

Joanna was unconscious when she arrived at the emergency room, Urbina said. Hospital staff revived her three times before the surgery, she said.

"After surgery the doctor said she was still alive, and then a few minutes later he comes back and tells us that her heart stopped and they couldn't bring her back," Urbina said, crying as she sat on the steps of the school near a memorial of flowers and balloons.

Police said their investigation was continuing; no arrests have been made. Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said Joanna died of blunt force trauma to the head, but had no further details.

Worried parents lingered as they dropped off their children yesterday in a light rain. Some wondered how the school could have become the scene of such unexpected violence.

Victoria Pyles said her daughter started at the school last week, after the family moved to the neighborhood. Her daughter likes the school, she said, but now she isn't sure whether to leave her there.

"If this is what is going on, I don't like it. It's very scary," Pyles said.

School officials believe the fight occurred near the school in a 15-minute window between the time school let out and the start of Joanna's after-school program at 2:30 p.m., said Chris Eftychiou, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.

Joanna had no visible injuries or any signs of distress for about an hour, but she eventually told staff she felt unwell and was picked up by a relative, he said.