Baldwin Village Neighborhood

A Baldwin Village man who stabbed his former girlfriend and her daughter was shot to death Tuesday morning by a neighbor who was arrested in the slaying after an eight-hour standoff with Los Angeles police. The incident began when Rhett Wilkins, 44, stabbed the two women shortly before 6:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Stevely Avenue, said Officer Karen Smithe.

Los Angeles police Saturday arrested an Inglewood man believed to be the driver of a Jaguar involved in a five-car, high-speed crash Friday night in which two people died in Baldwin Village. German Maximo, 22, was arrested at his home on suspicion of felony hit and run. He "fled the scene without rendering aid," said Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Larry Walker slowed his squad car, pointing to freshly spray-painted red gang graffiti on the side of a Baldwin Village apartment building, down the block from where a 3-year-old girl was shot and killed this week. "Usually, kids are off limits," he said, waving to a little boy with a red lollipop who eyed him back. "That little girl just got caught in the crossfire."

A 3-year-old girl, fatally shot as her family arrived home after a Sunday afternoon trip to McDonalds, was intentionally targeted by a teenage gang member who fired at point-blank range, police said Monday. The announcement, which came as detectives sought the public's help in finding the killer, prompted new anxiety in the Southwest Los Angeles neighborhood of Baldwin Village, which has struggled with gang violence for decades.