(L.A.) Thomas Mello, 36, Died in a Hospital

Case Number: 2025-16065

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 36-year-old Latino male that occurred in a hospital.

The coroner’s office identified the man as Thomas Mello.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Cause of Death: Gunshot Wound of Chest

RIP THOMAS WILLIAM DE MELLO (December 28, 1988 – October 12, 2025)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Sunday morning.

The decedent was shot at around 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of Falcon Avenue in Long Beach.

He was a local bassist who was helping friends pack their musical instruments when they were confronted by robbers and he was shot by one of the suspects.

Source: Long Beach Post article with details on Thomas Mello shooting

Description from YouTube Video:

INCIDENT DATE/TIME: 10-21-25, 12pm
LOCATION: 4900 block of Pierce St
AREA/CITY: Huntington Beach

DETAILS:

A second suspect charged in connection with the fatal early morning shooting of a man during an attempted robbery in a residential area of Long Beach is expected to be arraigned Friday.

Felipe Zermeno Ramirez, 27, of Long Beach, is scheduled to be arraigned early Friday morning in a Long Beach courtroom, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Ramirez and co-defendant Jose Santiago Garcia-Linares, 25, are each charged with murder in the Oct. 12 killing of Thomas Mello, along with the attempted robbery of Mello and two other people, the robbery of a fourth victim, conspiracy to commit robbery and driving or taking a vehicle without consent, according to the criminal complaint.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery, along with allegations that the two each personally and intentionally discharged a handgun.

The District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against the two.

Ramirez — who allegedly has two prior convictions for burglary in Los Angeles County in 2019 and 2020 — is also charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Garcia-Linares, who is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 19, is also facing an additional count of fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly.

The criminal complaint alleges that the defendants armed themselves with handguns, disguised their identities by putting on face masks and initially drove to the 100 block of West 9th Street in Long Beach, where one person was robbed at gunpoint Oct. 12.

The two then allegedly drove to 2nd Street and Falcon Avenue and pointed firearms at Mello and two other people and demanded their property, according to the complaint.

Police said officers responded at about 1:28 a.m. Oct. 12 to a call of a shooting, with paramedics taking Mello to a hospital.

Mello died at the hospital the same day from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to records from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Garcia-Linares was arrested in the 700 block of Orange Avenue the day of the shooting, police said.

Ramirez was arrested Tuesday by Long Beach police.

Both men remain jailed without bail.