Monday, July 6, 2026

Sheriff, Supervisor, Family Renew Appeal in Unsolved Killing of Altadena Boy, 4

A photo of four-year-old Salvador Esparza. [Photo credit: Juana Esparza]

A media advisory says county leaders will gather with relatives Monday morning to seek tips in a decade-old porch shooting

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and Supervisor Kathryn Barger are scheduled to join relatives of Salvador Esparza III at a 10 a.m. Monday news conference in Altadena, according to a sheriff’s department advisory, renewing a public appeal for information nearly a decade after the 4-year-old was fatally shot on a relative’s front porch.

An $85,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Esparza, of Monrovia, was shot on the evening of July 5, 2016, while standing on the porch of a relative’s home in the 300 block of West Figueroa Drive in unincorporated Altadena.

He died hours later at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

The case remains unsolved.

A gunman fired at least 13 rounds at people gathered on the porch, then fled in a dark-colored sedan that had been waiting nearby on Olive Street. A 27-year-old man was also struck and survived; investigators have said that he, not Esparza, was likely the intended target. The Sheriff’s Department has classified the shooting as gang-related and believes it followed an altercation involving other adults roughly two hours earlier.

The reward has grown steadily as the case has gone unsolved.

The Board of Supervisors set it at $20,000 in August 2016, doubled it to $50,000 in 2022, raised it to $75,000 in 2023, renewed it at that level in 2025, and voted on June 3 on a motion by Barger, to reestablish and increase it to $85,000.

“Little Salvador’s life was taken in a senseless act of violence a decade ago, but our commitment to seeking justice for him and his family remains unchanged,” Barger said in a statement announcing the increase. “By increasing this reward to $85,000, we are sending a clear message: this case is not forgotten.”

Juana Esparza, the boy’s grandmother, said in the same statement that the family is still waiting for answers.

“We hope that with this reward reinstated, someone out there is willing to come forward and give us answers that can bring justice and peace to my family,” she said.

Pasadena Mayor Victor M. Gordo, whose statement was also released through Barger’s office, said the anniversary underscores what the family has lost.

“Nearly ten years have passed since little Chavita Esparza was taken from us, but he has not been forgotten,” Gordo said. “Today, he should be preparing for high school and looking ahead to a bright future. Instead, his family continues to seek the answers and justice they deserve.”

The Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau says it continues to actively investigate the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. John Ganarial at (323) 890-5500; assistance is available in Spanish and other languages. Anonymous tips can be submitted to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or lacrimestoppers.org.

“If you know something — anything — we beg you to come forward and give us closure,” Juana Esparza said.