`LIKE VIETNAM,' SAYS TOT'S DAD : CHILDREN COULD NOT HIDE FROM GANGS.

Byline: Luz Villarreal Daily News Staff Writer

The two youngsters live on the border of rival gangs in South Central Los Angeles, and this past weekend they nearly paid for it with their lives.

Two days after a 2-year-old girl and her 13-year-old brother each was shot three times outside their home, they remained in critical condition Monday at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

``It's like living in Vietnam,'' said Dale Shannon, the father of Shantel Smith and stepfather of Ezekiel Smith. ``It's a war on the streets, everyday.''

Shannon and his wife described at an Inglewood news conference how they tried to shield their children from gangs, by keeping them indoors or allowing them to play within eye's view in the front yard.

And yet those precautions were not enough, especially in an area that police and residents say is on the blurry boundary between two gangs.

``We live there because this is where we come from. We don't have much choice about where we can go or what we can do,'' Shannon said.

The family has lived at the house on the 6100 block of south Hoover Street for 13 years but has been trying to move since 1990. The family just doesn't have enough money, he said.

Now they are receiving help from the Los Angeles Police Department and local anti-violence groups to relocate.

Lt. Julie Nelson of the LAPD's South Bureau homicide said that rival gangs lay claim to the areas abutting where the family lives.

``I know that both of those gangs live in that particular area. I don't know if that's the dividing line, but it's close,'' she said.

She said that police have one suspect, but others could be involved.

``Most of the reports we had from witnesses indicated 10 to 15 shots,'' she said. ``The kids were standing in front of their house, each hit three times.''

Family members said Ezekiel Smith had nowhere to hide when a volley of bullets erupted from the alley Saturday night about 8 p.m. He grabbed his 2-year-old sister who was playing in front of the home but it was too late.

``Ever since they've been there, they've had to duck the gunshots,'' said Virginia Robinson, a great-aunt of the children.

Exactly why they were shot remains unclear. What police know for sure is that the children were not members of gangs, but victims instead.

``I think it was motivated by gang activity,'' said Los Angeles police Detective Dan Meyers.

Another aunt, Valerie Smith, said Ezekiel was not a gang member but that it didn't matter in this neighborhood. Any youth wandering the neighborhood will be approached and threatened by gang members, she said.

``When you mind your business, they come to you and mess with you. It happens every day. It's hard to raise a teen-age boy,'' she said.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map

Photo: Jacqueline Smith, left, speaks with reporters about her hospitalized niece and nephew.

David Sprague/Daily News

Map: Gang-related shooting