Girl’s Death Blamed on a Baseball Cap : Brother Had Feuded With Street Gang

A dispute over a baseball cap bearing a street gang’s “colors” was blamed Monday for triggering a drive-by shooting that killed a 6-year-old East Compton girl and wounded four members of her family as they watched television in their living room.

First-grader Irma Saucedo died after being struck in the chest by one of at least 22 bullets fired Sunday night into the front of her family’s small home, authorities said. Her mother, father, brother and cousin were wounded.

The brother, Martin Saucedo, 13, said an ongoing argument between him and members of a neighborhood street gang over a blue Kansas City Royals baseball cap apparently led to the attack.

Pair of Shooters

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said two gunmen apparently sprayed the house with bullets fired from a high-powered rifle and a semi-automatic pistol before fleeing in a lime-colored Cadillac.

Investigators said they believe the shooting is gang-related, but they had identified no suspects.

Martin Saucedo has no known gang affiliation, according to members of Operation Safe Streets, the sheriff’s gang detail.

“We don’t know him,” Detective R. M. Graves said.

Irma was pronounced dead at the scene. Her parents, Salvador Saucedo and Maria Hernandez, both 39, suffered critical abdominal wounds. Martin Saucedo and a cousin, David Sanchez, 7, suffered less-serious wounds.

The attack came without warning as the family sat in the living room watching a TV program called “America’s Most Wanted” about notorious criminals, other family members who escaped the fusillade said.

Investigators said gang members are being sought as suspects. Bullets tore through windows, a steel security door, walls, “the microwave, everywhere,” said sheriff’s homicide Lt. Ken Chausse.

On Monday, Martin Saucedo returned to the home on Josephine Court after an overnight stay at Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital for a minor abdominal wound. Bullet holes riddled his rear bedroom, covering his bed with powdery pieces of wall plaster.

The plaster also covered a bedroom dresser top containing Martin’s baseball trophies and his baseball cap. Martin said he is a baseball player, not a gang member.

“It started with this hat,” Martin said. “The guys that jumped me said it was a gang hat and I should give it to them. I said no, I bought it with my money at the Paramount swap meet and it was mine.”

The dispute began months ago and was revived Friday when he wore the hat because of the threat of rain, the boy said. A gang member demanded the cap and began fighting with him when he refused to turn it over, he said. Three other teen-agers joined the fray. And on Sunday, one of those youths came to his house and sparked a new confrontation that prompted his parents to call sheriff’s deputies, he said.

Deputies warned both sides to stay apart and keep the peace. Several hours later, the shots rang out, Martin said.

Three other members of the family, including a 1-month-old baby, escaped injury in the shooting, said Alexandra Hernandez, Martin’s 16-year-old sister. She said the neighborhood is frequently racked by gunfire.

“Shootings happen every night. I don’t want to stay here,” she sobbed, clutching a photograph that showed her slain sister as a happy, chubby-faced child.

On the floor at her feet--next to where the little girl died, was a school workbook labeled “Reading Skills I.” The name “Irma” was written on the cover in big, block letters.

“She was a beautiful little girl,” said neighbor Jewel Hill. “Every time I worked in the yard, she’d come over and wanted to learn how to plant flowers. She was very likable.”

Said another neighbor, Irma Perez: “She was always happy. I’d always see her coloring and playing with dolls.”

At the Ralph J. Bunche Elementary School, where Irma was a first-grader, Principal Bettye Davis-Walker said she spent much of Monday visiting classrooms and discussing the tragedy with the children.

A team of counselors will be at the school today to meet with pupils, said Elisa Sanchez, deputy superintendent of the Compton Unified School District.

Aunts and uncles arrived at the Saucedo home shortly after the shooting to comfort and watch over the couple’s other children.

“I heard the ambulance people say that there was a little dead girl here,” Martin said. “But I didn’t want to tell my parents. They were in too bad shape.”

The boy said he wants to move from the Los Angeles area.

“I want to move to where other people in our family live in Mexico,” he said. “In Mexico, this kind of thing doesn’t happen.”