Two charged in deadly shooting

Suspected gang rivals open fire in Compton parking lot, striking boy, 3, sitting in car.

A second suspect in a Compton shooting that left a toddler dead has been arrested, Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide officials said Friday.

Kevaughn Harris, 27, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 20 killing of 3-year-old Franklin Pon-ros, who was sitting in his mother’s car when he was fatally struck.

Harris and Dwayne Ward, 30, recognized each other as rival gang members in a liquor store and began shooting at each other in the parking lot, said Sheriff ’s Lt. Joe Mendoza.

Harris had gone to the store with his girlfriend and the boy.

After the shootout, Harris and Ward sped off in their vehicles, Mendoza said. Initially, Harris and the boy’s mother didn’t know the child had been hit.

When the couple realized Franklin was wounded, they called 911. Sheriff ’s deputies took the boy to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Mendoza said.

Investigators identified Ward as the boy’s suspected killer soon after. Surrounded by family and with his attorney present, Ward turned himself in Jan. 22 and was held on suspicion of a parole violation.

After the shooting, Harris stayed with his girlfriend when she called 911 and was interviewed by deputies. In the intervening weeks, authorities gathered evidence and built their case before arresting him, Mendoza said.

On Friday, both Ward and Harris were charged with murder “because they were both engaged in behavior that led to that murder,” Mendoza said.

Both men also were charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle and being felons in possession of a firearm. They each face life in prison if convicted on all charges.