Inglewood : 16-Year-Old Boy Arrested in Murder of Girl, 14

Acting on a citizen’s tip, Inglewood police have arrested a 16-year-old Los Angeles youth in connection with the murder of a 14-year-old Inglewood girl last week, one of a series of shooting attacks that left five people dead and six wounded.

The suspect, whose name was withheld because of his age, was taken into custody Monday but the arrest was not revealed until Wednesday because police are still looking for at least two other suspects.

Tila Lashay French, 14, a freshman at Hawthorne High School, was killed Jan. 26 when three men believed to be gang members opened fire on a group of youths in front of an apartment building on North Eucalyptus Avenue. Two other teen-agers were wounded.

Police believe the same men may have fired shots that killed a 2-year-old girl and wounded her mother in front of their home on West 78th Street in Inglewood less than an hour earlier. The next night three 21-year-old men were shot to death while sitting in a car on North Market Street; the same suspects may have been involved, police said.

The Inglewood City Council on Tuesday offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to arrests of the suspects in the shootings.

Police refused to say where in Los Angeles the 16-year-old suspect was arrested, but law enforcement authorities believe the killings in Inglewood were part of an ongoing war between Inglewood gangs and gangs centered in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. Police stressed, however, that almost all of the Inglewood victims were not affiliated with gangs.

“They (gang members) seem to be satisfied if they shoot anybody in the enemy’s territory,” Inglewood Police Sgt. Alex Perez said.