Gang Members Arrested in Boy's Shooting

LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2008— -- It took Los Angeles police only 17 hours to track down two suspects in the shooting Tuesday of a 6-year-old boy as he rode in his family's SUV in a south LA neighborhood.

Police have not been so lucky trying to solve another suspected gang-related shooting: the killing of a star high school athlete who was shot just steps away from his home as he spoke to his girlfriend on his cell phone.

In the case of the 6-year-old's shooting, police say an intensive door-to-door canvass of the area turned up witnesses, which led to the arrest of two men, 25 and 26 years old, described by authorities as Latino gang members.

The two will be charged with attempted murder, police said today.

The boy, who is on life-support,, was shot in the head as his family was driving through the Harbor Gateway neighborhood on their way to an auto auction.

There were three adults in the vehicle, including a pregnant woman, and two other children, one 3 years old and the other just 18 months.

LAPD Chief William Bratton said two Latino males flashed gang signs before shooting at the SUV. The rear window was shattered and one bullet struck the boy.

At a news conference, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked the police for "this fast response and quick action" in arresting the suspects.

"We said yesterday we were going to do everything possible to find the people who did this, and we did," he said.

The mayor also praised local residents who gave police the information they needed.

"But the real heroes, as always, are the members of the Harbor Gateway community who worked with detectives to identify the shooters and bring them to justice," Villaraigosa said.

There are longtime rivalries among Latino gangs in the Harbor Gateway area, but there are also racial tensions between the gangs and black residents.

Police say the boy and his family were not residents of the neighborhood and there is no indication the family had any gang connections.

Both Villaraigosa and Bratton cautioned against speculation that the shooting was racially motivated, but said that will be investigated.

"If we find out it is bias or hate-crime related, certainly we would seek the maximum prosecution in that arena either at the state, county level or at the federal level," Bratton said. "And we'll make the example that type of crime will not be tolerated."

In another shooting believed to be gang-related, police have also appealed for help from the public in solving the killing of a gifted 17-year-old high school football player on March 1, also in south Los Angeles.

Jamiel Shaw was only three doors from his home and talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone when someone shot him to death.

The teenager's father heard the shots and ran from his house to find his son lying on the sidewalk.

Jamiel's mother, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw, was on her second tour of duty in Iraq. She has now returned home.

"I'd love to stand here before you and tell you we have some suspects in custody, but I can't," homicide detective Frank Carrillo told a news conference. "We need your help; the family needs your help."

"We know that two male Hispanics approached Jamiel as he was walking home," the detective said. "We know that a question was asked whether or not he was a gang member. We know that he was shot."

He said a $50,000 reward has been offered "for the identification and arrest and conviction of these perpetrators."

Shaw was not a gang member. His football coach called him "a Houdini on the football field." He had won the most valuable player award in a city high school league last year and both Stanford and Rutgers universities had shown interest in offering him a scholarship.

Villaraigosa again downplayed speculation that the killing of Shaw, who is black, was also racially motivated.

"While we're investigating whether or not that could be an issue, it is not at this point," he said.

The mayor also said Shaw's father told him "he does not believe that it's an issue of race. He thinks it's an issue of gangs."

There are an estimated 250 gangs in the city of Los Angeles, out of a total of about 1,300 gangs in all of Los Angeles County.

The city recorded 216 gang-related homicides in 2007, more than half of all the homicides citywide, but a drop of 27 percent from the year before.