Infant Among 2 Killed in Compton Shootings; 5 Hurt

A 2-month-old girl and a man were killed, and five other people, including a pregnant teenager, were injured in separate shootings Wednesday night in and around Compton.

Three separate attacks occurred between 9:55 and 10:30, all on neighborhood side streets within four miles of each other. Investigators collected ballistics evidence from the sites to determine whether the same guns had been used, sheriff’s spokesman David Cervantes said.

Authorities gave this version of events in the first shooting:

A man driving alone was fired upon as he entered the intersection of Caswell Avenue and West Claude Street. Hit in the chest, he crashed into a house. The name of the victim, who died at a hospital, hadn’t been released pending notification of relatives.

The second shooting occurred 20 minutes later on Parmelee Avenue, also in Compton, officials said. Meichelle Isrel of Hesperia and Brandon English of Lakewood had just arrived with their infant daughter at the home of the baby’s great-grandmother when assailants fired several shots into their car, deputies said.

Isrel said she had left the car to talk on a cordless phone “when I heard shots. By the time I turned to the car, my baby was all bloody and my boyfriend was shot in the head. All I heard him say was ‘Help!’ ”

The baby, Teiana English, was killed. Her father was in critical condition Thursday at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

The third shooting occurred four miles away on Essey Avenue, just outside Compton. A pregnant 15-year-old was struck by gunfire and taken to St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, where she gave birth by caesarian section. A spokesperson there said Thursday that both were in good condition.

Three other young people shot in the same attack also were in good condition, officials said.