Toddler Shot in Head During Gun Battle Is Taken Off Critical List

One day after he was wounded in the head during an apparent gang confrontation, 2-year-old Daniel Jones was taken off the critical list.

His shooting came less than two weeks after 12-year-old Cristal Anguiano was shot in the heart when she inadvertently walked into a gun battle between rival gangs.

Daniel underwent extensive surgery at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. Hospital officials said it probably will be several weeks before his long-term prognosis is known.

Police said that Jones’ uncle, Gary Johnson, 19, was cornered in an apartment courtyard on 71st Street in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles on Wednesday evening by five rival gang members. Johnson saw his nephew nearby, grabbed the toddler and began running up the stairs when the gang members opened fired with handguns, investigators said.

Johnson, who police said is a gang member, was treated for a minor wound at the medical center and released. After surgery, Daniel was placed in the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he was in stable but guarded condition.

“These gangs don’t care who they shoot or who they hit,” said Lt. Bruce Hagerty. “What’s happening in Los Angeles is that these gang members feel very comfortable about opening fire whenever they feel like it.”

Down the walkway from the two-story apartment where Daniel lives, a bullet had torn out stucco and another round had shattered a window.

The incident occurred about six hours after Cristal Anguiano was released from the King/Drew hospital.