Mourners of Girl Hear Call for Fight on Gang Violence

A funeral service Saturday for a 7-year-old Watts girl who was killed in a drive-by shooting turned into a forum of emotional pleas for an end to gang violence and the capture of the child’s killer.

In the services, held at the 114th Street Church of God in Christ in Watts, Patricia Patrick, executive director of Mothers Against Gangs in the Community, urged mourners for Kanita Hailey to “let this child be the last child” they bury.

Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) pledged a reward of $5,000 of her own money for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the child’s death. As Waters left the funeral, just a few blocks from the Hailey home, the assemblywoman said she had already received “new information.”

“People came forward and told me things just since we left the church,” Waters said outside a recreation center in the Imperial Courts housing project, where Kanita was shot while playing baseball with friends Aug. 2.

Waters urged residents of Watts to stop tolerating “AK-47s and Uzis in our community and in our homes.” She said residents should report people who keep such weapons.

Of the reward she offered, Waters said: “I wish we had more--$100,000 or $500,000. Anyone who might have a license plate number or any other information, tell them I have $5,000 for them.”

At a press conference after the funeral service, members of an organization called the American Assn. of Women blamed police and city officials for failing to protect the people of Watts from gang violence.

Police Protection

“It’s a shame police cannot protect us the way they protect the people in Bel-Air, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades,” said Gwen Johnson, president of the Imperial Courts chapter of the association.

Others at the press conference urged Imperial Court residents not to “point blame” at police, particularly while Kanita’s family is still grieving.

Myrtle Hailey, mother of the slain child, appeared at the press conference but did not speak. Family members said she and her remaining three children were returning by bus Saturday night to their hometown of Evansville, Ind. The mother had planned to return to Indiana before the shooting, family members said.

About 50 people attended the Hailey service, including many of the children who witnessesed the tragic shooting. A French television crew filming a documentary on gang violence also was present.

‘Look at Ourselves’

The pastor of the church, Elder J.W. Mayfield, said in his eulogy: “Something is vitally wrong in our families. We can’t blame it all on the police. We better look at ourselves.”

Kanita was shot as she played baseball in a fenced yard in Imperial Courts. Witnesses said gunmen in a car that raced by appeared to be shooting at a group of young men standing nearby.

As the men and the other children dove for cover, Kanita panicked and ran toward her home. She was struck once in the temple and died two days later at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Residents of Imperial Courts told reporters last week that a police car that arrived quickly at the crime scene did not chase the getaway car. When a crowd complained to police about the delay, they were beaten with batons, residents said. One man contends that his arm was broken by a police officer.

Capt. M.M. Wasson, commander of the Southeast Division, said Friday that police had determined that the man with the broken arm was treated at a hospital the night of the shooting. Earlier in the week, Wasson said that his preliminary inquiry did not show any wrongdoing by the officers on the scene.