2 Convicted in Slaying at Fallbrook Mall

VAN NUYS — After deliberating less than four hours, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury on Monday convicted two 20-year-old men of spraying gunfire at a group of youths at Fallbrook Mall, killing a 16-year-old Taft High School student in an incident that jangled nerves in a comparatively low-crime area of the western San Fernando Valley.

Tommy Lee Williams of Van Nuys was found guilty of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors said he fired nine shots from a .22-caliber handgun while riding in a Ford Escort with Elliott O’Neal Singletary of Van Nuys and four high school girls.

Singletary, who sat in the front passenger seat while Williams sat in back, was convicted of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder, which means a prison term of 26 years to life, plus five life sentences.

His attorney said such a sentence effectively means life behind bars without parole.

A sentencing hearing was set for Sept. 18.

Singletary broke into tears when the verdict was read. Williams, who had remained solemn throughout the trial, which began with jury selection Aug. 5, tapped his hand nervously on the courtroom table.

The shooting on June 9, 1995, killed Ramtin Shaolian of Woodland Hills, hospitalized another youth with a leg wound and drew attention largely because of the mix of people in the car.

Police linked Williams, who went by the name “Ace Capone,” and Singletary, nicknamed “Chocolate,” to a gang called Every Woman’s Fantasy--an assertion the defense vigorously denied. The girls--three 16 and one 17-- came from comfortable homes in upscale neighborhoods south of Ventura Boulevard and had no criminal records. They had joined with the two men for a Friday night of cruising and drinking.

All four girls in the car initially were booked on murder charges. The girl who drove the car still faces a murder charge in juvenile court, but two others were granted immunity in exchange for becoming star prosecution witnesses.

The fourth girl faces no charges, but was not called as a prosecution witness because she allegedly helped Williams and Singletary identify a youth who was a target of the shooting.

Witnesses testified that an altercation that prompted the shooting began when Singletary asked one of six youths walking outside the mall if he was a gang member. At that point, witnesses said, one boy swore and replied, “Do you think we look like gangbangers?”

Angered by the reply, Singletary ordered his group back to the car and directed the girl driving to go to the dimly lighted rear of the mall. The car slowed, headlights off, until the same group of six other youths walked by.

One of the girls then pointed out the boy who had answered defiantly to Singletary’s question.

The two who testified said they ducked their heads below the car door sills because Singletary told them to, not realizing that Williams had a gun and was about to use it in a drive-by shooting.

“The car came to almost a complete halt. At that point [Williams] was already leaning out the window, and he started shooting,” one girl testified.

As the car sped away, witnesses testified, Williams yelled out, “You don’t gangbang? Well you do now!” The prosecution said he then repeated the comment to the others in the car.

Shaolian was not the intended target, but he died hours later of stomach wounds.

The Shaolian killing was the second of three at the Fallbrook Mall, a shopping center in an upscale area, over a two-year period. It set off a public outcry in the southwestern San Fernando Valley about crime, although fewer crimes are reported there than in most other areas of the city.

“If people here seem on edge, it’s because they’ve seen other once-peaceful communities lose the battle against crime already,” one homeowner group leader commented at a meeting with police leaders after the shooting. “What we hope to do here is hold the line.”

Defense attorneys for Williams and Singletary attacked the girls’ credibility, saying they consulted with each other, created a common story, and lied on the witness stand in order to distance themselves from the crime.

Singletary’s attorney, Phil Nameth, said he was “amazed” at the speed of the jury’s decision. “I can’t believe it. I’m very surprised,” he said. “It seems that they spent a couple of hours on Mr. Williams and less than that on my client.”

Nameth also said in an interview that race was a factor. Both defendants are black. There were no blacks on the mostly white jury. One of the girls who testified against the defendants is black.

“Welcome to Van Nuys,” Nameth said. “A jury pool of 100 and only three African-Americans . . . Nobody in that jury’s going to understand my client’s situation. You can’t tell me that anything but an all-white jury would do what they did.”

A telephone message left for Williams’ attorney, Dror Toister, was not returned.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Baird, the lead prosecutor, hailed the verdict. “What they did was very senseless and violent,” she said. “You’re a teenager going to a movie and you get shot? It’s not right.”

After the verdict, prosecutors stood by their decision to grant immunity to two of the girls.

“The perception that these girls got a break was there because the people who are making the perception don’t have the facts in front of them,” said Det. Jary Quinones. “If we could have charged them, we would have charged them.”