Gang Leader Found Guilty in Slaying

A leader of a Pacoima street gang was convicted Wednesday of killing one man and wounding another during a shooting last year outside a Van Nuys bar.

After three days of deliberations, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury found Ernest Townsend, 21, guilty of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a firearm.

Authorities said Townsend opened fire July 13, 1990, on Jason Jefferson, 22, of Los Angeles and two other men outside Doohinkey’s bar in the 8900 block of Woodman Avenue. Jefferson was fatally shot. One of the other men was shot in the hip but recovered.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said the motive for the shooting is not known.

Townsend, who is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Stephen D. Petersen on Feb. 14, could receive a maximum of life imprisonment plus 14 years, Samuels said.

Nearly two years before the Jefferson slaying, Townsend was the intended victim in an unrelated shooting in which a 16-year-old bystander was killed, authorities said. In that case, rival gang members opened fire inside a crowded Panorama City mall on Dec. 16, 1988. Townsend escaped unharmed but a boy who was shopping at the mall was killed by mistake.

Samuels described Townsend as one of the leaders of a Pacoima gang.