Vieira, Edward

Born deaf in Los Angeles; his deaf brother Cesar Vieira (q.v.) had been born in Brazil before their mother immigrated to the U.S. Attended Birmingham High School, Van Nuys, CA, then worked as a drywaller. One day while driving his brother's motorcycle, Cesar riding pillion, they stopped at a red light and signed to each other. A group of hearing teenagers in a car stopped next to them and seemed to make obscene gestures at the deaf brothers, having mistaken their sign language for gang signs. As the light changed, the motorcycle pulled ahead, but the car caught up and tried to force them off the edge of the road. The deaf brothers turned into a parking lot and stopped, but the car followed them and two teenagers jumped out, one waving a gun. Both Cesar and Edward were shot, Cesar fatally and Edward seriously wounded, then the car of teenagers took off. Police investigators tracked down the alleged gunman and charged him with the shootings, but his father contested the charges, stalking the police investigation and constantly claiming that his son was innocent and was being railroaded. Police eventually found that the alleged gunman, Joey Bellinger, was far from the innocent his father claimed him to be, and eventually found the fugitive at the other end of the country. Joey Bellinger was arrested, tried and sentenced to 12 years in prison with credit for time already served and the possibility of parole.