Thursday, October 1, 2026
Following an “intense” investigation by the Long Beach Police Department, detectives arrested a man in Oceanside on Wednesday morning and charged him in the Memorial Day shooting of a victim on East Market Street.
Keith Nellums, 47, of Long Beach, was arrested by detectives at around 6:40 a.m. on June 15 at a shopping center in Oceanside following a two-week investigation, according to Detective Lt. James Canner, commanding officer of the Detective Division. Nellums allegedly shot another man in the face during an incident that ignited amid an early-morning brawl on May 30, police said.
Police had quickly reached out to the community immediately after the shooting in the hopes of obtaining more information about the incident — and urged residents to call the Long Beach Police Department’s confidential tip line — as police launched “an aggressive” investigation.
“We put a tremendous amount of work into this investigation to apprehend this defendant,” Canner said in a statement. “Gun violence has no place in our community or any other.”
Canner said that the incident occurred on May 30 at around 12:30 a.m. along the 100 Block of East Market Street, when a group of men were involved in an altercation. During the fracas, Nellums allegedly shot another man in the face, police said.
“There was some sort of disturbance prior to the shooting — apparently some type of disturbance in the street and then there was a fight,” Canner told the Herald shortly after the shooting.
Canner said that the victim — whose name was not released — is in his early 20s. The man was shot in the face and taken to Long Beach Medical Center, and remained in serious condition, police said. Canner said no other injuries were reported.
Nellums was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal use of a firearm, detectives said.
He was arraigned on Wednesday in Long Beach City Court before Judge Frank Dikranis, who set bail at $50,000, police said.
