VAN NUYS : Suspect Denies Fatal Shooting of Boy, 2

A Van Nuys man accused in the fatal Easter Sunday shooting of a 2-year-old boy in Balboa Park pleaded not guilty Tuesday to seven felony charges.

Larry Dean Shaw, 31, remained in custody in lieu of $2-million bail after arraignment on charges of murdering Ryan Brown of Los Angeles.

Brown was shot once in the head Sunday night as his mother attempted to whisk him away from a shootout that erupted during an Easter party. Brown’s mother, Tamara Lee, reported that she had placed the boy on the front seat of her car when a man armed with two guns approached and began firing.

Two adults seriously wounded in the melee--Damon Keith Napier, 29, of Sherman Oaks and James Anthony Wright, 30, of North Hills--are listed in stable condition at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center.

Police continue to search for other gunmen, but prosecutors said they believe Shaw is the one who actually shot Brown.

A second man arrested Sunday night, 26-year-old John Karl Brown, was released Tuesday after both police and prosecutors determined he was not involved in the shooting.

“There wasn’t any evidence that he was involved,” Deputy Dist. Atty. James A. Baker said.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner William E. Holliman ordered Shaw to appear at an April 22 preliminary hearing.

In addition to the murder of Brown, Shaw is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of transporting cocaine and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Shaw was convicted in 1982 of burglary.