Youth Arraigned : Baby Wounded in Gang Scuffle Is Slightly Improved

The condition of a 9-month-old girl who was shot and wounded last Friday during a scuffle between rival gang members was reported slightly improved Thursday.

Helen Hawkins, struck in the head by a .22-caliber bullet while nestled in her mother’s arms, was “in serious condition, which is an upgrade from critical,” according to officials at UCLA Medical Center.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old Crenshaw-area youth was arraigned in Compton Juvenile Court Thursday on two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident at a bus stop in South-Central Los Angeles.

Fight on Street

Authorities say the youth, whose name is being withheld because of his age, shot the baby when he attempted to fire at a rival gang member involved in a fight with his friend, Gibron Edwards, 14, the baby’s brother. The incident took place at a Crenshaw Boulevard bus stop near 50th Street, where the youth, Gibron, and Gibron’s mother, Linda Edwards, 36, who was holding the baby, were standing.

The defendant allegedly fired several shots after the driver of a passing car jumped out and began fighting with Gibron Edwards. Only the baby was hit.

At the prosecution’s request, Judge David Schacter scheduled a fitness hearing Jan. 15 to determine whether the youth should be tried as an adult. The youth will enter a plea to the charges at that time, authorities said.

Schacter denied a defense motion that the youth be released from Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey pending trial. But the judge did approve a defense request that a psychiatric examination be performed to help determine whether the defendant should be tried in juvenile or adult court.

Deputy Public Defender Evan Freed, who is defending the youth, said police records show that his client has never been previously arrested or questioned by authorities.

If he is deemed a juvenile, Freed said, the youth could be tried as quickly as Jan. 17.