Compton : 4 Arrested in Slayings

Police made more arrests last week in two recent slayings that seemed on the verge of sparking a gang war in the Kelly Park and Lueders Park neighborhoods.

Three youths--two from Compton and one from Los Angeles--were arrested in the Dec. 27 slaying of 15-year-old Charles (Beeb) Stevens, who was shot by an assailant in a passing car while standing in Kelly Park, Compton Police Lt. Jim Fette said. The names of the suspects have not been released because they are juveniles--two are 15 and one is 14. All are being held in the Los Padrinos Juvenile Detention Center in Downey.

Police also searched two residences in connection with the arrests and confiscated two shotguns, a .22-caliber rifle, a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol and some ammunition, Fette said.

Meanwhile, charges against 24-year-old Dennis Earl Reed--accused in the Dec. 29 “drive-by” shooting death of Don Turner--were dropped for lack of evidence, Fette said.

However, Kenneth Brown, 21, of Compton surrendered to police and was charged with the crime. Similar charges are also pending against Eric Darnell Garrett, 18, who was arrested along with Reed during a police sweep of the Kelly Park neighborhood earlier this month. Both are from Compton.

The 30-year-old Turner had been standing on a street corner near Lueders Park when a gunman jumped from a passing truck and sprayed a crowd with shotgun blasts, apparently in random retaliation for the Stevens killing.

Since the arrests, both neighborhoods have been quiet, police said.