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11-Year-Old Dies Following Fight With Another Girl In Long Beach

LONG BEACH (CBS) — An 11-year-old died following an after-school fight with another girl in Long Beach.

Long Beach Police said in a statement that the girl wasn't breathing and was unconscious when she was brought into an emergency room by relatives about 5:50 p.m. Friday.

The statement says that the girl underwent surgery and was placed in the intensive care unit in critical condition. The girl was was pronounced dead about 8:50 p.m.

An official cause of death is yet to be determined, police said.

Saturday, the deceased was identified as Joanna Ramos. The girl involved in the fight has not been identified.

Police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the girl had been involved in an off-campus fight was with another girl. Both attended Willard Elementary.

Louisa Hodge, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, spoke to the victim's friends and her mother.

One Ramos friend, Maggie Martinez, said she broke up the fight."She did not hit her head. The other girl just punched her in the face. She started bleeding from the nose."

Martinez got a frantic call from the girl's mother and told her she died three times in the car on the way to the hospital but her mother was able to revive her. "She did the CPR and she revived. But when they got to the hospital they said it was really bad and they would have to do brain surgery on her."

The girl's mother told Hodge, "She was such a happy person." And she was then unable to continue, overcome with grief.

At a news conference Saturday, police said the victim was not bullied. They also said the fight lasted less than one minute.

They also revealed no weapons were involved.

Ramos friends spoke to Amanda Burden, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, Saturday evening.

Stephanie Soltero, who said Ramos was her best friend, said the fight was senseless. "They were fighting just for a boy.  Just for a boy. It was ... stupid."

While authorities have said bullying did not seem to be a factor, friends told Burden that Ramos kept a journal entry, on her iPad, that mentioned the girl she had the fight with and they believed she felt bullied by the girl.

Anyone with more information about this incident is asked to contact detectives Hugo Cortes or Peter Lackovic at (562) 570-7244.

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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