Gang Member Arrested in Two Slayings After Public Appeal

A man was arrested as a suspect in the killings of a 7-year-old boy and a 17-year-old suspected gang member after Los Angeles police issued a public appeal for help in finding him.

George Williams Jr., 26, was apprehended Friday evening as he tried to flee his girlfriend’s house. He left after a friend telephoned to warn him that his photograph had been broadcast on television news programs, said Police Lt. Doug Collisson.

Williams, who police called a hard-core gang member, was unarmed and offered no resistance, Collisson said. He was being held for the murders of LaMont Compton, 7, and Melvin Gentry, 17, who were killed Wednesday.

Williams is suspected of being one of the two gunmen who opened fire with assault rifles on Gentry as he stood on a sidewalk near 111th Street and Broadway in what is believed to have been retribution for the earlier killing of another gang member. Compton, who was sitting in a car, was caught in the line of fire. Gentry and Compton both later died at a hospital.

The second gunman was still being sought, but Collisson said officers did not have a firm description.

Police had staked out locations where Williams was known to frequent, including his girlfriend’s house in the 300 block of Poplar Street in Compton, and called a press conference asking for the public’s help in locating him.

Shortly after television news reports aired, Williams left his girlfriend’s house by car. He was arrested about two miles away on 118th Street after backup units responded, the lieutenant said.

Collisson credited the public appeal with having “cranked up the heat” on Williams, forcing him to stay on the move. He said Williams’ girlfriend later told officers that he left her house after being tipped off by a friend that he was being sought.