Gang’s Error Is Fatal to Two Girls : Teen-Agers Slain in Misdirected Revenge Over Drug Deal

Gang members seeking revenge over a drug deal shot and killed two teen-age girls Monday in a case of mistaken identity, police said.

The victims were sitting in a car that the assailants mistook for the car of the sister of a drug dealer who had cheated them out of $14,000 in cocaine, investigators said.

Latonjyia (Nicki) Stover, 18, and Jamee Finney, 13, were killed when gunmen fired a machine gun and a shotgun into their car at a street corner in South Los Angeles about 7:15 p.m. Monday.

Five men, all in their 20s, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder.

Assistant Police Chief Jesse Brewer said the five men went out looking for revenge Monday morning after an unidentified drug dealer allegedly gave them flour instead of cocaine.

At about 3:30 p.m., the men allegedly kidnaped and raped a 20-year-old woman friend of the drug dealer, taking her to a fortified “rock house” on Vernon Avenue. Then, Brewer said, the men went to look for the dealer’s sister.

The angry gang members, riding in two cars, saw Nicki’s red Pontiac at St. Andrews Place and Vernon Avenue and mistook it for the red Hyundai of the dealer’s sister, Brewer said. One of the gang’s cars pulled in front of Nicki’s car. The other sped past while its occupants sprayed gunfire, striking both of the girls in the head.

After the shooting, the gang members went back to the rock house. They were taken into custody there by police who were investigating the kidnaping and rape of the 20-year-old woman.

The gang members were linked to the shooting after the kidnaping victim told authorities the men had bragged about “killing the dope dealer’s sister,” Brewer said.

Brewer identified the suspects as Dayon Lively, 20; John Porter, 23; Vincent Burks, 24; Deautri Denard, 25; and Lyndell Jackson, 27. Meredith Carter, 19, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon against the kidnaped woman.

Nicki and Jamee, who were neighbors, were within two blocks of their homes on Vernon Avenue when they were killed. They were returning from a convenience store, said Charlotte Austin, Jamee’s mother.

“There had been guys hanging around here all day,” Austin said. “We knew something was going to happen. It was just a matter of time.”

Austin said she had noticed that the girls had taken longer than expected to come home when her son came in to tell her there had been a shooting and “it looked like Nicki’s car.” Austin said she grabbed her slippers and ran out the door, “praying it wasn’t my baby.”

“I knew she was hurt real bad,” she said. “There was lots of blood . . . but the paramedics were there and I thought they were getting the gurney, but then they brought out the sheets.”

Jamee had attended Audubon Junior High School for two months after moving with her family from Watts. Her mother said she loved to sing, making up her own rap songs and singing with a church choir.

No Ties to Gangs

Next door, aunts, uncles and cousins congregated on the front steps of the house where Nicki had grown up. She was a student at Southwest Community College, where she was taking real estate and computer classes.

“She wasn’t involved in gangs or anything,” said Kim Watson, 20, a friend.

“Nicki was kind of a role model for Jamee,” Austin said. “She would tell her ‘Don’t do this,’ and ‘Don’t hang out with these people.’ It made her (Jamee) feel kind of grown up to go riding with her.”

Austin said her daughter’s death is the second shooting in the area in less than a month and she plans to move. Relatives at the Stover house repeated bitter sentiments about the violent youths who have taken over their streets.

“I don’t think these kids know what they’re doing,” Austin said. “They’re just going around shooting and killing each other. It’s just getting worse every day.”

So far this year, 115 people have been killed in gang violence in Los Angeles County, law enforcement officials said.