2 Charged in Shooting of Girl Who Carried Brother to Safety

Two alleged gang members were charged with attempted murder Monday in the shooting of a 12-year-old girl who carried her 2-year-old brother to safety although she had been wounded in the heart.

Zaprico Glassper and Tony Davis, both 27, were ordered held without bail in the Feb. 2 shooting. Crystal and her 2-year-old brother, Rafael, were walking toward an ice cream truck when a gun battle erupted between rival gangs in front of their South-Central Los Angeles house.

Although a stray bullet had penetrated her heart, Crystal carried Rafael into the house before collapsing in the doorway and telling her parents and an aunt, “I don’t feel good.”

She underwent several surgeries at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and was in intensive care for six days after the shooting, hospital spokeswoman Julia Richmond said.

On Monday, Crystal was out of the intensive care unit and listed in good condition, Richmond said.

Glassper and Davis were arrested late last week along with a juvenile, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Irv Cohen. Glassper and Davis made a brief court appearance Monday afternoon but did not enter pleas. An arraignment was set for Feb. 24.

Glassper was charged with three counts of attempted murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Cohen said. Davis was charged with three counts of attempted murder and the special circumstance allegation of using a firearm, the prosecutor said.