The Region - News from Feb. 10, 1986

A 16-year-old Crenshaw area gang member has been convicted of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the accidental shooting of a 9-month-old girl in a fight between rival South-Central Los Angeles gang members in December. The youth, convicted in Compton Juvenile Court, will be sentenced Feb. 26 on charges of assaulting the baby, Helen Hawkins, and a gang member, who was not hit. The infant, authorities said, suffered brain damage and was blinded by the errant shot. The defendant, whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile, was acquitted by Juvenile Court Referee Antonio Govea on attempted murder charges. Authorities said the youth fired a .22-caliber pistol at a Crenshaw Boulevard bus stop in a fight between gang members, hitting the baby who was nestled in her mother’s arms.