ENCINO : Mom Says She Tried to Save Slain Baby

The mother of a 2-year-old boy slain when gunfire erupted at an Easter picnic in an Encino park testified Thursday that she was trying to rescue the toddler from a car when a shot came through the back window.

“The baby’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell back in the seat,” said a stoic Tamara Lee, the mother of Ryan Brown of Los Angeles.

Lee, whose testimony was interrupted by tears, was called to testify during the first day of a preliminary hearing for Larry Dean Shaw, 31, who is accused of murdering the boy and critically injuring two adults.

About 100 people had gathered on Easter Sunday for an egg hunt and barbecue at Balboa Park before two men became involved in a fistfight around sunset, according to testimony.

To get away from the trouble, Lee testified that she placed Ryan into a car along with two other children.

When she looked up, Lee testified, she saw a man with a gun.

“The guy with the two guns was aiming through the window,” she said.

Shots were fired and Ryan was struck. Lee testified that she pulled her child to the ground outside the car.

Lee could not identify Shaw as the gunman in court Thursday. Hours after the shooting, she told police that a photo of Shaw “resembled” the gunman.

Brown’s aunt, Carla Lee, identified Shaw as the man who was armed with two guns.

In addition to Ryan’s slaying, Shaw is charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting Damon Keith Napier, 29, of Sherman Oaks and James Anthony Wright, 30, of North Hills.

Wright, who is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting, testified Thursday that he was shot after telling the gunman to move away from the car because children were inside.

Wright, who said he did not know who shot him, could not identify Shaw on Thursday as the man armed with two guns, but he did select Shaw as his assailant in a photographic lineup at the hospital after the incident.

Shaw’s preliminary hearing will continue Monday.