Killing of Teen Yields 4 Arrests

Three men and a woman have been charged with murdering 17-year-old Ernest Williams last month, one of a spate of 16 killings within a week in South Los Angeles.

Police said they aren’t certain whether the suspects are gang members, but the killing was the 111th this year in the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street Division, more than a sixth of the total citywide.

The suspects -- Theresa Madlock, 24; Leonard Hampton, 31; Donell Dwayne Smith, 20; and Raymond Morgan, 26; all of the Los Angeles area -- are also accused of attempting to murder a 21-year-old friend of Williams.

Police say that on Nov. 19, Williams had just gotten off a bus from school and was talking with the friend near 83rd Street and Western Avenue when the killers shot him and fired at, but missed, the friend.

Madlock, Hampton and Smith, all accused of firing handguns, are being held in lieu of $3.2-million bail. Bail for Morgan, who was not armed, is $2 million.

Madlock and Hampton are also accused of possessing marijuana for sale.

Los Angeles Police Det. Teddy Hammond said commercial quantities of the drug were seized when the two were arrested, shortly after the Williams shooting, at the site of another shooting eight blocks away. Police said the suspects may have been the intended victims of that second shooting.

Williams’ father, Robert, an insurance agent, has said he believes that whoever killed his son was targeting the friend, and that his son was shot only because he happened to be there.

Hammond said Thursday that the police investigation continues.