Suspected Shooter of Deaf Brothers Returned to L.A.

Joey Paul Bellinger, the fugitive 16-year-old boy arrested nine days ago in Upstate New York on suspicion of killing a deaf man and wounding his deaf brother in Granada Hills, has been returned to Los Angeles in the custody of detectives, police said Saturday.

The boy is in custody at Sylmar Juvenile Hall after arriving about 10:30 p.m. Friday, Officer Terence Kibodeaux said. Bellinger was accompanied by two Los Angeles police detectives who flew to New York earlier last week after FBI agents arrested the boy at the home of a family acquaintance in Utica, authorities said.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt said Bellinger probably will be arraigned Monday or Tuesday in Sylmar Juvenile Court. A hearing to decide whether to grant a prosecution request that the boy be tried as an adult will be scheduled at the arraignment, Rosenblatt said.

Bellinger is charged with murder in the slaying of Cesar Vieira, 30, and attempted murder in the shooting of Edward Vieira, 25, during a confrontation Jan. 28 near Balboa Boulevard and Devonshire Street.

Bellinger was riding in a car with four friends when they drove up next to the Vieiras, who were on a motorcycle. The two groups exchanged stares and pulled into a parking lot, police said. The brothers, who communicated mainly through sign language, apparently did not understand what was happening, police said. The brief confrontation ended with gunfire, resulting in the death of Cesar Vieira and the wounding of Edward, who is now recovering at his home.

After the shooting, the boy’s father, Joseph Paul Bellinger Sr., 40, said he was in contact with his son but would not turn him in unless authorities promised not to prosecute him as an adult. Police last week arrested the father at his Long Beach home on suspicion of aiding and abetting a felon.

The boy was arrested March 2 at the home of Susan Alguire, who told a local newspaper that the boy’s mother, Phyllis, called her Jan. 30 asking if the youth could stay with her until the rest of the family joined him at a later date. Alguire said the mother, a high school friend, did not mention that the boy was wanted in the murder.

Authorities arrested the boy after receiving a tip. He appeared Tuesday in Oneida County Court in New York and consented to return to California without an extradition hearing, officials said.