D.A. Won’t Charge Father in Death of Man Who Shot Boy

No criminal charges will be filed against Floyd Atkins in the shooting death of a 78-year-old man who had shot and wounded Atkins’ 2-year-old son in the face, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

“It was a justifiable homicide,” Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Friday in a statement. “The boy’s father used reasonable force to defend himself and his family in apprehending a violent felon.”

Atkins, 27, was driving down Main Street near Martin Luther King Boulevard last Monday when he spotted a man and woman fighting, the district attorney’s office said. When Atkins inquired whether the woman was all right, the man, Glossie Hershey, fired one round from a .38-caliber revolver through Atkins’ windshield, striking his son, Christopher, in the face.

Hershey fired more shots at Atkins, who got out of his car and began struggling with his assailant, prosecutors said. At that point, the gun discharged, fatally wounding Hershey in the head.

The district attorney’s office said it is not clear who had possession of the gun when it fired.

The youngster, originally taken to County-USC Medical Center, was transferred to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care facility in West Los Angeles. Authorities there said he was in good condition.