Few Clues, Much Anger Over Shooting of Toddler : Violence: Some doubt that boy was deliberately shot. Fear of retaliation has made witnesses reluctant to talk.

As a wounded 2-year-old boy showed improvement, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective went door-to-door through the toddler’s neighborhood Thursday, attempting to coax from reluctant witnesses information to explain why Jonathon Fabian was shot at close range as he frolicked in his front yard in Lynwood.

“There are a few more witnesses I need to hunt down,” Detective Craig Ditsch said. “These witnesses are reluctant to talk because of a fear of retaliation.”

Jonathon was reported in stable condition in the pediatric ward of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, where he had arrived Tuesday with a gunshot wound to the midsection. Doctors said the bullet missed the boy’s abdominal cavity, and that his chances for full recovery are strong.

Authorities believe the toddler might have been the target of a gang member’s bullet, but on Thursday they remained baffled as to who shot him and why. The suspicion that Jonathon was an intentional victim was based on evidence that at least two shots had been fired at close range, and because the boy’s father said no other known target was in the vicinity. A self-described witness, however, told The Times that Jonathon was hit by a stray bullet in a gang attack.

While gang gunplay has claimed the lives of numerous young bystanders, the possibility that a 2-year-old was intentionally targeted prompted an outcry Thursday from politicians and community leaders, who saw the attack as a watershed escalation of the violence rampant on Los Angeles-area streets.

The mayor of Lynwood said it was time to “stop coddling murderers no matter how old they are.” A county supervisor called the shooting “the crime of the century” and offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to capture of the gunman. A community activist remarked angrily that more money is being spent to protect oil wells in the Persian Gulf than to save the lives of American children.

At the same time, neighbors of the little boy, and some police officers, were skeptical of the possibility that Jonathon had been intentionally shot. They advanced a far more common scenario: The bullet that struck Jonathon was a poorly aimed shot at a rival gang member.

“My opinion is he probably wasn’t an intended victim because that is not characteristic of gangs,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Holmes. “But we’re not ruling it out.”

On Jonathon’s street, a 22-year-old man claiming to be a witness told a reporter what he said he was afraid to tell police.

“I was standing at the corner when some guys came around in a blue car and then three guys started shooting at the car,” he said. “They shot three times, stupid, like they didn’t know what they were doing. The little kid got hit. I seen him fall. I seen his father try and pick him up. I seen the guys start running.”

But, he said: “I ain’t going to tell the police. I ain’t going to get shot and killed. . . . It’s a gang thing. It’ll end when more people die. Or when they’re satisfied.”

Asked about the contradictory scenarios, investigators said that they will not be able sort out the incident until they hear from more witnesses.

In contrast to the reaction of officials, the voices of people who live in the working-class neighborhood seemed strangely muted Thursday, locked in a numbing silence.

“There is outrage,” said anti-gang activist Leon Watkins. “But it is silent outrage.” After all, he said, “who do you take your outrage to when you’ve given up hope on the people who are supposed to be helping you?”

The police, the media, elected officials--”there’s a distrust of those folks in general,” said Loretta Jones, a community activist who works with youngsters in Inglewood. “What have they done for the community? All the (police) have is that (Operation Hammer) and that makes the people more afraid,” she said, referring to massive police sweeps that target alleged gang members.

Such thoughts were going through Barry Dowd’s mind as he watered his lawn, down the street from Jonathon’s home. “We’re outraged, but it’s a bottled-up outrage,” he said. “Eventually America is going to wake up and realize that it’s getting a snow job from elected officials who could be spending more to educate and provide recreation for these kids.”

As for the gang members, Dowd said: “Today the drug of choice is violence. You hear it in the music, you see it on TV. They look at TV and they want what they see.”

Aaron Washington, a 17-year-old who lives only a few houses away from Jonathon, said it is difficult for young men who want to steer clear of gangs: “There’s nothing in Lynwood to do that is positive for young people except sell drugs or be in gangs. We have no theater, no mall, no bowling alley, just a swap meet and an empty lot.”

Meanwhile, politicians and activists offered rewards and pledges to find the person who shot the toddler and prevent such crimes from happening again.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said that if the child was deliberately targeted, “it is the crime of the century.” He and his colleagues offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman.

Hahn said Sheriff Sherman Block “assured me that all law enforcement officers will be mobilized and every effort will be made to apprehend the guilty parties.”

Lynwood Mayor Robert Henning was one of many who called for calm pending the outcome of the investigation. He said such incidents as Jonathon’s shooting should persuade “legislators that we must stop coddling murderers, I don’t care how old they are.”

“I’ll be damned if we’re going to just sit here and let a handful of individuals run rampant through a community,” he said. “A 2-year-old child hasn’t had a chance to walk good and some clown shoots him. That doesn’t make any sense.”

What has happened in Lynwood is but a microcosm of what is occurring in neglected urban centers throughout the nation, said Brotherhood Crusade spokesman Ralph Sutton.

“A state of emergency should be declared by this government to deal with this problem,” Sutton said. “Otherwise it’s going to get worse in terms of a body count and in terms of the brashness, boldness and types of urban terrorism we’re going to witness.

“We are doing more to save the oil wells than to save our most important natural resource--our people.”

LONG BEACH SHOOTING

A gunman killed one and injured six in Long Beach. B1

YOUNGER VICTIMS: Even in pediatric wards, trauma doctors are treating more gunshot victims. B1