VAN NUYS : Gang Member Convicted in Slaying of Girl at Dance

An Inglewood gang member was convicted of second-degree murder Thursday in the shooting death last year of a 12-year-old girl at a dance at the Boys & Girls Club in Pacoima.

After 2 1/2 days of deliberations, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury convicted Damian Vann, 18, in the Jan. 9, 1993, slaying of Tiffany Dozier, a seventh-grade student at Maclay Middle School. He faces a maximum of 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 1.

While waiting for a ride home from a dance at the club, Tiffany was shot in the back after a fight broke out among rival gang members. Vann, who was a juvenile at the time of the shooting but was ordered to stand trial as an adult, admitted his role in the slaying, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. John Nantroup.

The prosecutor said the evidence included Vann’s “statement to police that he did shoot into the crowd.” Vann claimed that he fired in self-defense after hearing a gunshot.

The gun used to kill Tiffany, a .32-caliber semiautomatic handgun, was turned in by one of Vann’s friends after Vann called the boy during a police interview, according to Los Angeles Police Detective Gary Holbrook.

The man who apparently fired a shot into the air seconds before Tiffany was hit, Tremayne Stevenson, 21, of North Hollywood, pleaded guilty last year to negligently discharging a firearm and was sentenced to probation.