Teens Arrested in Wounding of 2-Year-Old : Crime: Detectives no longer believe that the shooting in Lynwood was deliberate.

Three teen-age boys were arrested today in the wounding of a 2-year-old boy, but the shooting that prompted outrage among city officials is no longer considered deliberate, authorities said.

The three youths, two aged 15 and one 16 years old, were booked for investigation of the attempted murder of Jonathon Fabian, said Sheriff’s Detective Craig Ditsch. Their names were withheld because of their ages.

Jonathon was shot in the stomach Tuesday as he played with a push toy in front of his home in Lynwood.

Witnesses said three teen-age gang members, at least one carrying a gun, ran away after two shots were fired. Because no other gang members were seen in the area, investigators speculated that the boy may have been the intended victim.

But investigators said today that the boy was not the target.

“The three suspects were walking on Muriel Drive when they exchanged words with a group of rival gang members who drove in a vehicle,” Deputy Bill Linnemeyer said. “Two of the boys on the street fired at the car, which drove past the 2-year-old boy, who was caught in the cross-fire.”

The boy was in critical but stable condition at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center today. His condition was expected to improve.

County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn had called the shooting the “crime of the century.” The Board of Supervisors offered a $25,000 reward Thursday for information leading to the capture of the assailants.

Lynwood Mayor Robert Henning had declared that it was time to “stop coddling murderers no matter how old they are.”

“If gang members want to shoot each other, that’s one thing,” Ditsch said. “But it always bugs me when I see innocent people hurt. That feeling is just magnified when it’s an innocent little boy.”