The Closer

Hey, honey.

I brought you some doughnuts.

Ooh! Doughnuts?

Coffee first, coffee first.

Where -- where are the doughnuts?

Actually...

Aah!

What is that?

What does it look like?

A kitten!

For me?

Oh, fritzi, you can't --

You can't buy a pet for someone else.

I didn't buy him. He's a rescue.

I --

Well, he's...

All right, he's cute.

But, look, I-I'm not ready for --

Did you hear that, joel?

She thinks you're cute.

Joel?

You named the cat joel?

I didn't even get to help pick him out.

And kitty can't be replaced like this.

I know that.

Joel is not kitty.

You can't call the cat joel. Cats are not called joel.

They're called things like dasher or -- or -- or dancer.

Those are reindeer.

Look, your last cat didn't have a name at all.

We can call him something else if you want to.

Deputy chief johnson.

Yes, detective sergeant.

Uh, hang on, sergeant gabriel. Just...

Hang on just one second.

Look, I appreciate the sentiment. I do.

I'm just not ready to start over again with another pet.

so...

Goodbye...

Joel.

Sorry.

Bye, now. Bye.

Yes, sergeant?

Hey, there.

Oh! Geez!

For heaven's sakes!

What does l.A. Have in store for us today, commander?

I wish I could say "the usual."

I'll give you the grand tour. Come on.

Thank you.

Neighbors say this house has been sitting empty for a year,

But a few members of the tres colores

Have taken it over as a party spot.

Watch the puke, chief.

Ugh.

Uh, come this way, please.

Gangs keep recruiting them younger and younger.

Yeah, and we keep getting older and older.

He had a fight with the fiance again last night.

I hope it's the last one.

Time of death?

Time of death.

Time of death, yes. Midnight, give or take an hour.

Sorry. I never get used to the young ones.

Yeah, well neither do we.

Chief.

The kid was shot over here three times in the gut, pukes,

Then crawls...

To where he finally bleeds out...

Right here.

His fingertip's gone.

Yeah, I found it stuck to the wall --

Shot clean off.

Probably had his hand out front.

Uh, just giving up.

So, close range.

Based on the outfit and the location,

I mean, this kid wanted to be a gangster.

But he's a little young.

And look at his tattoo.

A wannabe.

Buzz, make sure you get a shot of that, please.

So, what, you think this is the first round in a gang war?

It takes a lot of cojones to walk through the front door

In hostile territory and shoot a kid.

Does our victim have a name?

No wallet, no I.D.,

But we're pretty sure his name is manuel.

We got a 911 call from a pay phone.

A male voice said a manuel was shot to death at this address.

I mean, the kid's not even 12.

Does anybody know the nearest middle school?

Public? Taft or harding.

Yeah, and there's a, uh, catholic school

A couple of blocks south from here --

"saint" something or "our lady of" whatever.

Please get all their yearbooks.

See if you can get a photo that matches up to our boy.

We need to find out manuel's last name

So we can make a notification to his parents.

Then maybe we can learn more about him

Than the fact that he... Likes gum.

Strawberry.

Pukey strawberry.

Dead kid is manuel -- manuel soto.

12 years old, went to harding middle school.

No sports, no honor roll,

But according to the principal, he wasn't much trouble, chief.

Yeah, yet.

What do you mean "yet"?

Well, manuel soto comes from a bad family.

His father did 11 years for stabbing a guy,

And his big brother is cruz soto.

Who's doing seven years at pelican bay

For assault, battery,

And possession of a fully automatic weapon.

Now, he's the guy that used to run the tres colores, right?

Well, we think he still does,

Only now he's doing it from prison.

Has his first parole hearing in a month.

So, cruz soto's little brother gets shot to death

Right in the middle of three c's territory.

Someone's making quite a statement.

Well, if this is a gang war, chief,

Shooting a young boy like this is way over the line.

It's going to get ugly.

All right, I'll put a call in to pelican bay,

Get cruz moved into isolation so he can't send out any orders

Or get any info from the outside.

Okay. Thank you, commander.

In other news,

S.I.D. Sent over print reports from the house.

Two matches -- known three c's.

One of them is rafael mendez, a.K.A. Sniper.

And the other's --

Um, name's felix vega, a.K.A. Stank.

Anyway, we got some partials

We haven't been able to match up with anything yet.

And, uh, we're still processing the rest of the garbage.

Okay, so, um, these gentlemen, stank and sniper,

Are either suspects or witnesses.

Lieutenant flynn and provenza,

Please bring them in so we can have a little chat.

Lieutenant tao, let's get search warrants for their homes,

See if a 9-millimeter handgun turns up.

And, detective sergeant gabriel

And detective sanchez, with me, please.

We get to notify manuel's parents.

Thank you.

Senior soto. Podemos hablar contigo senior?

Sir, you are going to have to secure that dog.

Espera.

Iquitate!

Gracias.

It's open.

Is mrs. Soto around?

Not for eight years.

Sir, is there anyone else in this house?

Sir, is there anyone else here?

We're looking for your son manuel.

Is he around?

No.

What's this about?

Did manuel sleep here last night?

Nope.

When was the last time you spoke to him?

He called on his cellphone yesterday --

Said he was spending the night at a friend's house.

Mr. Soto, would you please sit down, sir?

Sir, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this,

But we found manuel, and he had been shot to death.

I understand this is terrible news,

But we're here to help.

I don't need your help.

Well, I apologize, but we need yours.

Any idea who would want to do this to manuel?

Was he in a gang?

No. He wasn't ready.

He had a tres colores tattoo.

Like this one?

Hey.

I hear the city gives you $2,000 for a funeral, right?

When can I get that money?

We'll look into it.

What about your other son -- cruz?

I understand that he's in prison

And one of the top leaders of the three c's.

Maybe a rival gang was trying to intimidate him

By hurting manuel.

I think I hear my dog.

Mr. Soto said his son called on his cell,

but there was no phone on manuel when we found him.

I'll check with all the carriers

And see if he has an account, chief.

Thank you.

And let's see to it our father of the year

Gets his burial money from the city.

All right, thanks.

Got the search warrant

On felix vega, a.K.A. Stank's, house.