LOS ANGELES -- Friends and neighbors of a 13-year-old boy say they can't understand why Los Angeles police shot him to death early Sunday.

Police said Devin Brown was suspected of stealing a car and led police on a 3.5-mile chase. An officer reportedly fired 10 shots into the car when the Devon backed the vehicle into a patrol cruiser at the end of the brief chase.

Now, a makeshift memorial has been set up at the site where Devon, an 8th-grader at a magnet school for gifted children, was shot and killed. Police initially said Brown was a gang member but later said they could not confirm that.

The shooting sparked outrage among some community groups, and a prayer vigil and community meeting about Brown's death was called for Tuesday night.

Signs criticizing the police have gone up at an impromptu memorial at the scene of the shooting in South Los Angeles. One said, "You are a cancer to the community."

It was reported that the boy's father had died last year, and his mother had recently asked an older neighbor to help get the boy back on track.

"Oh yeah, it's sad," resident Cleo Pierce said. "It hurts me, too. I knew something (was) going to happen. When they start ... fooling around with gangs, I knew something had to happen to him."

Two officers involved in the shooting have been assigned to desk duty. Their union said officers have to make split-second decisions and any delay could cost them their lives.

The police officer who reportedly fired 10 rounds into the car, killing the unarmed teen, was identified as Steve Garcia, 31, who has been with the Los Angeles Police Department for nine years. The driver of the patrol car, six-year veteran Officer Dana Grant, 29, did not fire a weapon, police said.

In response to angry protests over Brown's shooting, Bratton urged the community to allow the process to work.

"We will not make a determination for a number of months," Bratton said. "And we have an extensive and elaborate process we have to go through."

Some South Los Angeles residents lashed out at police for Sunday's shooting.

"This happens far too often and far too easily in our neighborhood," resident Gene Conner said.

Yvonne Jones, assistant principal at the boy's school, Audobon Middle School, said a crisis team was on campus to help students and staff members cope with the news.

One of Devin's classmates said he always made her laugh, and she cried when she heard he had died.

"He was always nice to me," she said. "He never do nothing to me. I don't know, because he was just nice, period."

Patrol officers tried to stop the 1992 Toyota Camry about 3:50 a.m. Sunday when they saw the car moving erratically near Century Boulevard and Grand Avenue and believed the driver was drunk, said LAPD Officer Kristi Sandoval of the Media Relations Office.

"The suspect collided with a fence, the officers were behind him, attempted to make a traffic stop, and at that point an officer involved shooting occurred," LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said.

Police said the driver ignored orders to surrender and backed the car into a police cruiser.

"Officers were giving the driver commands over and over again, but he ignored them," Sandoval said.

The driver put the car into reverse and struck a patrol car, she said, prompting the shooting.

A 14-year-old boy who was also in the car tried to run away but was caught, Sandoval said. His name was not released.

A man who said he saw the events unfold from his kitchen window said it looked like the driver "might have backed it up and hit the police car," then "all of a sudden ... pow, pow, pow."

Police backed off initial reports that the boys were gang members, and LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Berkow told The Los Angeles Times the suspect was unarmed.

The Times noted that the shooting occurred about a year after LAPD officers killed another fleeing motorist who backed his car toward police at the end of a televised, 90-minute chase near Santa Monica High School.

That shooting prompted Bratton to announce last March that the department should create new rules on when officers can shoot at moving vehicles.

Bratton said such a policy should prohibit officers from shooting "unless the officer or other person are threatened by deadly force, other than the moving vehicle," according to The Times.

A proposal has been formulated but has not been considered by the Police Commission yet. The commission's president, David Cunningham, told The Times the new regulation will probably be considered within the next month.

McDonnell told The Times the proposal would make exceptions for officers whose lives were threatened by a suspect's car.