An alleged gang member who likely shot and critically wounded a teenage girl in Compton, just south of Los Angeles, has not been apprehended despite eyewitness accounts because police failed to interview the victim and witness.

Detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department did not try calling the cell phone numbers of the victim and eyewitness that were listed in the original incident report.

Jazzming Patton, 18, suffered a severed artery when she was shot in the upper right leg while fleeing her assailant at 10 a.m. on March 2. The suspect, dressed entirely in black and wearing a black beanie, followed Patton and her sister, LaJanae Patton, 20 into a liquor store on W. Compton Boulevard, where he and a companion were documented by a surveillance camera, according to police. When the sisters fled the store, the suspect opened fire, hitting Jazzming. 

"I heard four shots and then turned around and Jazzming was lying on the ground screaming," LaJanae Patton said.

The suspect and his companion, both identified by police as members of the Palmer Blocc gang, drove away in a green Pontiac Grand Prix, according to police. 

Jazzming Patton was transported to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrence, where she underwent two surgeries and received six units of blood. She is in stable condition, according to her mother, Lila Perry. 

Two detectives with the Compton unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department who were assigned to the case said they knew who the assailant was but were unable to pursue him because they could not contact the Patton sisters to take a statement about the crime. 

"This case is nothing," said Detective Robert Dean of Operation Safe Streets, the unit  charged with investigating crimes committed by street gangs. "The addresses and phone numbers of the victims were incorrect."

Detective Patrick Escamilla, also of Operation Safe Streets, agreed. 

"For this case, I know who the suspect is but not the victim," he said. "I spent all night last night looking for them." 

According to the activity log kept by the department, detectives attempted to contact the victims at least twice, once on March 4 and again on March 8.

When two reporters informed Escamilla that they had contacted Jazzming Patton as well as her sister and her mother using phone numbers contained in the incident report filed with the sheriff's department, Escamilla laughed. 

"You did better than I did," he said. "You've given me some hope now. Do you know what the mom's name is?" 

When asked if he had contacted the victim in the hospital, Escamilla shrugged. "Yeah, we can probably call the hospital," he said. "But even with the hospital it's difficult [to reach a crime victim], and they don't give us anything extra if we say we're a detective." 

He then asked to borrow one reporter's cell phone to call the Patton home. He spoke with Perry and arranged to meet.  

But a short time later, Perry, who does not have a car, called the reporter and expressed concerns about her safety and the safety of LaJanae Patton as they walked to the sheriff's station. 

"I'm worried about protecting my other baby," Perry said. "I don't want her to wind up in the hospital like her sister."

The murder rate in Compton hit a 25-year low in 2008, but shootings in 2009 are on the rise, according to police. 

Royce Esters, a longtime Compton resident and community activist, said word of the sheriff department's failure to follow up on the shooting will spread quickly, emboldening criminals and eroding any recent gains against street crime. 

"They need to be doing their job," Esters said. "We need to make them accountable." 

Compton Mayor Eric Perrodin, an outspoken critic of the sheriff's department, did not return repeated requests for comment. 

When originally contacted by reporters, both Jazzming and LaJanae Patton said they were eager to identify their assailant. But later, they said they were concerned about a lack of police protection, and what that might mean for their personal safety. 

"I don't want my name or face or my sister's face associated with this," said Jazzming Patton during a phone conversation from her hospital bed. "The shooter is still out there and if I testify, gang members will come after me or my family." 

LaJanae Patton agreed. "I have to live over here," she said. "I don't have a car. I walk everywhere. I can't take that risk so I won't walk the streets anymore like that." 

An employee of the liquor store who said he saw the shooting echoed the sisters' concerns. 

"I know how the streets are," said the man, who asked that he not be identified by name because he feared for his safety. "If my face is involved, I will get hurt. If not by the shooter himself, one of the others in his gang." 

Esters said until police in Compton begin to take shootings seriously, witnesses will be reluctant to come forward. 

"If you treat the citizens right," he said. "they will tell on the criminals."