The State - News from May 12, 1989

A judge in Oakland sentenced a man to 54 years to life for his part in an assault rifle attack on a security guard hired to drive drug dealers from the city’s crime-ridden Acorn Housing Project. Shawn Garth, 23, of Oakland, was convicted of two attacks in October, 1988, that killed one security guard, wounded two others and wounded an 18-month-old girl in the leg. Garth is believed to be one of four men who sprayed the housing project’s security shack with gunfire after the guards broke up an illegal dice ring. Two weeks later, Garth sprayed another Oakland house with gunshots, wounding the baby. “These crimes were vicious and were committed without regard to human life, including the life of an 18-month-old child,” said Alameda County Superior Court Judge Sandra Margulies.