Family Seeks Justice in Slaying of Boy, 6

These were supposed to be joyous days for the Raggette family. Six-year-old Daniel just graduated from kindergarten. His grandmother, Marie Isaacs, was about to celebrate her silver wedding anniversary.

Daniel was standing at the counter in a South-Central Los Angeles gift store Monday, waiting with his mother to buy balloons for his grandmother, when that joy was shattered in one senseless moment. A gunman stepped in front of the shop in open daylight and fired a shower of bullets through the door and window. Gunfire struck Daniel in the upper body, killing him, and grazed his mother, Andrea Raggette.

Los Angeles police have developed a computer-generated sketch of the killer, but have few leads in what they say was a random shooting. They pleaded Wednesday for residents to help find the suspect and said they will distribute copies of the sketch around the neighborhood.

“This shooting is beyond the comprehension of the average person,” said Detective Rudy Lemos, trembling slightly as he spoke. “Our mission is to bring justice to Daniel Christopher Raggette, to Andrea Raggette and their family.”

Tearful family members joined police investigators at a news conference to release the sketch, and asked witnesses to come forward or turn in the gunman, described as a black teen-ager who was wearing a knit cap.

Still visibly shocked, friends of the family expressed hope, through their rage, that the homicide would be solved.

“I don’t expect this killer to stay out there very long. This was a baby,” said Norma C. Johnson, a city victim assistance coordinator offering aid to the family. “No one’s going to tolerate baby-killing in the community.”