A judge ordered 15-year-old Gabriel Torres Reyes held in custody on a first-degree murder charge on Wednesday at his first appearance in Juvenile Court, in the killing of 17-year-old Levi Brown, who was shot inside the gates of a Bakersfield high school football stadium on Friday, August 21, 2026.
Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer identified the teen, whose name police had withheld after his arrest. The petition filed against Reyes accuses him of murder in the first degree with premeditation, and tacks on a gang enhancement plus an allegation that he fired the weapon himself, killing Brown. Two additional counts accuse him of having a gun while legally barred from doing so and of breaking the terms of his probation. Reyes entered a denial to every count and allegation — in juvenile proceedings, the equivalent of pleading not guilty.
What Happened at the Season Opener
Independence High School was opening its season against Bakersfield rival Centennial High School when gunfire erupted around 8 p.m. The shooting followed an argument and broke out just as the varsity squad took the field, according to the football team’s Instagram account. A reporter covering the game said he heard roughly seven to eight gunshots. Video from the stadium showed spectators and players in full pads sprinting for the exits.
Officers in Bakersfield, just over 100 miles north of Los Angeles, found Brown wounded at the scene. He was taken to Kern Medical and pronounced dead, and the game was called off. Police said their preliminary investigation showed the violence grew out of a fight between a group of individuals, and they described the shooting as an isolated incident posing no ongoing threat to the public. Investigators later said the two teens knew each other and that the killing was not random. Bakersfield police Officer Eric Celedon said school games in the city remain safe. Anyone with information has been asked to call the department at 327-7111.
By Saturday morning, police announced an arrest, saying the 15-year-old was taken into custody on suspicion of murder and participation in a criminal street gang. Later that day, the department released a photograph of the handcuffed teen being led away.
Gang Ties and a Prior Record
Reyes runs with the Warlord Piru Bloods, while Brown was tied to the East Side Crips, Zimmer said, calling the killing gang-related. Neither teenager was enrolled in school at the time, she said. Ridgeview High School had once counted Reyes as a student, though an expulsion kept him away for a stretch. School officials confirmed on Sunday that Brown did not attend Independence High.
Football coach Vince Carter mourned Brown in a Facebook post, writing that the teen “was around the wrong crowd and was getting misled and misguided,” and adding that it hurts to see how it ended.
Chief Trial Deputy Gina Pearl laid out a criminal history stretching back roughly a year. It began last July, she said, when Reyes was caught in a stolen vehicle he had used to joyride for about six hours, crashing into multiple properties before officers detained him. Days after his release, Pearl said, he attacked his mother with a knife, punches and kicks. The court sustained that petition — in juvenile court, the counterpart to a guilty finding — and ordered him onto probation, forbidding him to have weapons or to associate with known gang members. A later petition accused him of battering his stepfather, and he was again placed on probation under similar terms.
In April and July of 2026, prosecutors said, Reyes broke curfew, carried contraband at school, possessed other illegal items and associated with known gang members, all in violation of those terms. “He was not even supposed to be in possession of a firearm last Friday night, let alone use it to execute the victim,” Pearl said.
Why the Case Stays in Juvenile Court
Zimmer said state law leaves her office no discretion. Senate Bill 1391 (SB 1391), passed by the Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018, bars prosecutors from charging anyone under 16 in adult court, regardless of the offense. The California Supreme Court ruled the measure constitutional in 2021.
An adult conviction for murder with a special circumstance can carry a sentence of imprisonment for life with no chance of parole, or even capital punishment. Because the matter is being handled in juvenile court, a first-degree murder finding would instead expose Reyes to a confinement period of four to seven years. Zimmer said prosecutors across California are seeing younger gang members commit homicides, and that she is not happy about the constraint.
She pointed to the case of Gabriel Prieto, who committed a nine-person armed robbery spree in 2017 and entered a plea to 23 years. After his release under SB 1391, Zimmer said, Prieto committed additional robberies and a murder in 2024, and was found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances.
A District in Mourning
Independence High School and the Kern High School District said in a joint statement that district police and Bakersfield police responded and are actively investigating, and that student and staff safety remains the district’s priority. Kern High School District Superintendent Michael Zulfa said there are no adequate words when a young life is lost, extending condolences on behalf of the district and its Board of Trustees to Brown’s family and to everyone who witnessed the shooting. Counseling and other support services will be available to students and staff, he said.
Not everyone was consoled. One parent, writing on Facebook and identifying himself as a former district security guard, said the district and the school need a plan to prevent another shooting and should be held accountable.
Families across California have been shaken by the killing and by a separate false report of a shooting that touched off a stampede at Los Angeles Southwest College, and pressure is building for tighter security at campus events. Celedon said families look forward to Friday nights watching their kids play.