Watts Teenager Charged in Second Killing

A 15-year-old Watts youth already facing charges in the slaying of an 82-year-old woman and the attempted murder of her grandson was charged with murder in an unrelated case Wednesday, the district attorney’s office said.

Authorities said the teenager, whose name was withheld because of his age, fatally wounded Patrick Birdsong, 24, as he left his apartment in the Nickerson Gardens housing project about 9 p.m. on July 15, 1996.

Birdsong was “very well respected within the projects,” said Det. Armando Moriel, adding that the murdered man had no affiliation with gangs or gang members. “It was a case of mistaken identity.”

Just 11 days after Birdsong’s death, the teenager and an 11-year-old boy allegedly fired shots at Viola McClain and her grandson, Dumar Starks, in front of their house across the street from Nickerson Gardens. McClain was shot in the neck and died hours later in the emergency room.

The teenager’s court-appointed attorney said Wednesday that he was not aware of the Birdsong shooting or of the related charges.

A Feb. 18 hearing was set to determine if the youth, who was 14 at the time of the shootings, will be tried as an adult, court officials said.