SOUTH LOS ANGELES — Police are searching for the gunmen who shot and killed a 2-year-old boy and critically wounded the child’s uncle in South Los Angeles Monday night. Authorities received the call around 8:45 p.m. from a residence near the 1200 block of East 55th Street and Hooper Avenue.

Louisiana State Police are hunting for Point Coupee resident Lawrence Ricks Jr., a man they say took part in the group rape of three little girls. Cops have already arrested seven suspects for the alleged crimes. “Three young girls under the age of nine were forced to have sexual intercourse with eight adults at a residence in the Church Point area,” Trooper Stephen Hammons said in a news release. Ricks is pictured above.

I’ve had a gutsful! A few weeks back we had three child abuse cases that hit the headlines in as many days. Babies bashed, shaken, hurt and all at the hands of those who should be caring for them. To me they all sounded the same, just another beaten baby. I found myself looking for a point of difference in the cases so they may make the 6 o’clock news. Only one did. The story of baby Serenity, a six month old Ngaruawahia baby who died from traumatic brain injury.

While causes of child abuse are hard to determine, many professionals who work with abused children say recent increases in child abuse are probably a result of the poor economy. Stress can increase the chance of domestic abuse of all kinds. And financial stress can push parents to the breaking point. The loss of a job, a home or other financial difficulties common to the now years-long recession makes the tough job of parenting even harder.

As of August 2006, at least 21 states and over 400 local governments had adopted sex offender residency restriction laws and ordinances, respectively, according to the California Research Bureau in an August 2006 report entitled The Impact of Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders and Correctional Management Practices: A Literature Review. These laws are modeled after nuisance codes, creating sex offender-free zones like drug-free zones. They typically prohibit sex offenders from living, and sometimes working or loitering, within a specified distance of designated places where children congregate.

Jurors in a Fort Worth trial watched dramatic hospital surveillance video Wednesday that showed a young mother smothering her 4-month-old son with a blanket and then her hand. On Thursday, the jury deliberated for only 20 minutes before finding 18-year-old Shantaniqua Scott guilty of two counts of injury to a child with serious bodily injury. On Friday, after a deliberation lasting more than three hours, they sentenced her to 25 years behind bars.

The teenage mother of newborn baby boy has been arrested after the child was found dumped in a garbage chute of a US housing complex. Police say the baby’s mother, 18-year-old Laquasia Wright, was arrested on charges of attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child.

Rhode Island—– An attic dwelling substitute teacher is being charged with enticing a child, contributing to delinquency of a minor and possession of child pornography. Justin W. Menoche, 23, was a math and science substitute teacher in Burrillville and Coventry. This sorry story first came to light after concerned parents notified police that their underage daughter had met up with someone from Facebook.

LOS ANGELES — Is a convicted sex offender — on parole and working what appears to be an entry level cleaning and janitorial job that’s being funded with public money — worth $42 an hour? That’s what convicted sex offenders James Spry and Steven English are claiming in a lawsuit, and under state law, they might have a case. Spry and English are suing Baron Services of Chino, a company that does final cleaning and janitorial work on construction sites.

Police say they have seized more than 307,000 child pornography images from around the world after shutting down an illegal website allegedly run by a Gold Coast man. Queensland police today announced the closure of Operation Gatekeeper, which targeted the major international website and led to charges against 21 Queenslanders, including a 15-year-old child.

Today, at least two out of every ten little girls and at least one out of every ten little boys are victims of a sexual abuser. That can change. We now have the power to stop the abusers who commit 95 percent of the sex acts against our children. We know who this abuser is, where to find him (or her), which children are most at risk, and how to protect them.

A retired Baltimore priest accused last year of sexually abusing a young female parishioner over 40 years ago will not face charges after a police investigation stalled and the unidentified woman decided to pursue the case, spokesman for the police and the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Thursday.

The rural West Longview home of Jeffrey Allen Trebilcock and Rebecca Lynn Trebilcock, who were arrested Thursday and accused of starving and abusing their five adopted children. A rural West Longview couple was arrested Thursday and accused of abusing and starving their five adopted children so badly that at times the children ate dog food and dandelion leaves, according to the Cowlitz County sheriff’s office.

FOUNTAIN, CO — The deaths of a man and toddler found inside a home following a six-hour standoff in Colorado are being investigated as a murder-suicide and a woman wounded while trying to escape was fighting for her life Tuesday, authorities said. Officers found the bodies Monday night in the home in Fountain, just south of Colorado Springs, after trying unsuccessfully to contact the man. Fountain Police Chief Todd Evans said the house had been doused with gasoline, according to The Gazette.