(L.A.) Brayan Andino, 16, Died on a Mountain Side

Case Number: 2017-09159

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 16-year-old Hispanic male that occurred on a mountain side.

The coroner’s office has identified the teenager as Brayan Andino.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Cause of Death: Blunt-Force Trauma, Possibly with Other Undetermined Factors

RIP BRAYAN ALEJANDRO ANDINO (July 13, 2001 – December 15, 2017)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Friday at 9:00 a.m.

The decedent was a Panorama High School student originally from Honduras.

He came to the United States with his family in 2013, eventually settling in Van Nuys. At school, Brayan claimed affiliation with the 18th Street gang, though he was at most an 18th Street wannabe and had no confirmed full membership. His school was known to have a small but active cell of the MS-13 gang, the rival to 18th Street.

In October 2017, after being lured to Lake Balboa Park by members of the MS-13 gang, Brayan was abducted by gang members, driven to the mountains above the San Fernando Valley, and brutally stabbed and bludgeoned to death. His body was thrown off a 30-foot cliff in Lopez Canyon, where it was later found after a wildfire cleared the brush.

The murder was part of a series of violent killings by the Fulton clique of MS-13, which operated in the area around Panorama High School. Several classmates and associates of Brayan were arrested and linked to the crime and the gang conspiracy.