Adding object to another sprite layer causes issues - actionscript-3

Question

Essentially, the spawning ships appear above the crosshair whereas I want it to be the other way around. I tried adding the crosshair to another layer but then clicking / 'shooting' the ships does nothing. Any ideas?
public class Main extends MovieClip {
public static var backgroundLayer:Sprite = new Sprite();
public static var gameLayer:Sprite = new Sprite();
public static var interfaceLayer:Sprite = new Sprite();
public static var menuLayer:Sprite = new Sprite();
public var mainMenu:menuMain = new menuMain();
public var intro:IntroSound = new IntroSound();
public var soundControl:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
public var crosshair:crosshair_mc;
static var enemyArray:Array = [];
private var enemyShipTimer:Timer;
private var enemyShipTimerMed:Timer;
private var enemyShipTimerSmall:Timer;
public function Main()
{
addMenuListeners();
addChild(gameLayer);
addChild(backgroundLayer);
addChild(interfaceLayer);
addChild(menuLayer);
menuLayer.addChild(mainMenu);
interfaceLayer.addChild(howtoPlay);
interfaceLayer.addChild(gameEnd);
interfaceLayer.addChild(gameAbout);
soundControl = intro.play(0, 100);
stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, update);
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDown);
}
private function update(e:Event):void
{
for each (var enemy:EnemyShip in enemyArray)
{
enemy.update();
if (enemy.dead)
{
enemy.kill();
}
}
}
private function mouseDown(e:MouseEvent):void
{
if (e.target.name) {
switch (e.target.name) {
case "enemy_big":
updateScore(5);
e.target.parent.damage();
break;
case "enemy_medium":
updateScore(10);
e.target.parent.damage();
break;
case "enemy_small":
updateScore(15);
e.target.parent.damage();
break;
}
}
}
function addMenuListeners():void
{
//Code to add event listeners
}
public function startGame(e:Event)
{
removeMenuListeners();
soundControl.stop();
if (howtoPlay.parent == interfaceLayer)
{
interfaceLayer.removeChild(howtoPlay);
}
if (gameAbout.parent == interfaceLayer)
{
interfaceLayer.removeChild(gameAbout);
}
if (gameEnd.parent == interfaceLayer)
{
interfaceLayer.removeChild(gameEnd);
}
if (mainMenu.parent == menuLayer)
{
menuLayer.removeChild(mainMenu);
}
enemyShipTimer = new Timer(2000);
enemyShipTimer.addEventListener("timer", sendEnemy);
enemyShipTimer.start();
enemyShipTimerMed = new Timer(2500);
enemyShipTimerMed.addEventListener("timer", sendEnemyMed);
enemyShipTimerMed.start();
enemyShipTimerSmall = new Timer(2750);
enemyShipTimerSmall.addEventListener("timer", sendEnemySmall);
enemyShipTimerSmall.start();
crosshair = new crosshair_mc();
gameLayer.addChild(crosshair);
crosshair.mouseEnabled = crosshair.mouseChildren = false;
Mouse.hide();
gameLayer.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveCursor);
resetScore();
}
function spawnEnemy(type:String, speed:Number) {
var enemy = new EnemyShip(type, speed);
enemyArray.push(enemy);
gameLayer.addChild(enemy);
return enemy;
}
function sendEnemy(e:TimerEvent):void
{
Timer(e.currentTarget).delay = (1+Math.random()*2)*1000;
spawnEnemy("big", Math.random() * 5 + 12);
}
function sendEnemyMed(e:TimerEvent):void
{
Timer(e.currentTarget).delay = (1+Math.random()*2)*1000;
spawnEnemy("medium", Math.random() * 7 + 14);
}
function sendEnemySmall(e:TimerEvent):void
{
Timer(e.currentTarget).delay = (1+Math.random()*2)*1000;
spawnEnemy("small", Math.random() * 9 + 16);
}
static function updateScore(points)
{
score += points;
scoreText.text = String(score);
scoreHeader.setTextFormat(scoreFormat);
scoreText.setTextFormat(scoreFormat);
}
static function resetScore()
{
score = 0;
scoreText.text = String(score);
scoreText.setTextFormat(scoreFormat);
}
static function removeEnemy(enemyShip:EnemyShip):void {
enemyArray.splice(enemyArray.indexOf(enemyShip), 1);
gameLayer.removeChild(enemyShip);
}
function moveCursor(event:Event)
{
crosshair.x=mouseX;
crosshair.y=mouseY;
}
}
}

Answer 1

I expect MouseDowns are intercepted by the parent layer. You have employed mouseEnabled=false for crosshair, now you should do that for its parent.
public static var crosshairLayer:Sprite=new Sprite();
public function Main() {
... // initialize everything first
addChild(gameLayer);
addChild(crosshairLayer);
crosshairLayer.mouseEnabled=false;
crosshairLayer.mouseChildren=false;
}
Then you add crosshair to crosshairLayer.