Girl, 13, Dies After Intruder Stabs Her in Family Room of South Gate Home

A 13-year-old girl was stabbed by an intruder at her South Gate home early Tuesday and died at a hospital, authorities said.

The girl was stabbed at her home on Bryson Avenue about 3:30 a.m. while she was alone in a family room where she, her parents and three brothers had been watching television earlier in the evening, Sgt. Russ Galbreath said.

“Family members heard her scream,” he said. Her mother, coming to her aid, saw a man in a white T-shirt flee the family room through an open sliding glass door, he said.

The girl had been stabbed in the left side of her chest with one of the family’s kitchen knives, Galbreath said. The intruder apparently entered the house through a bedroom window.

The girl was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where she died at 4:45 a.m., he said.

“We don’t really know what the motive was,” Galbreath said.

The identity of the girl, who had graduated from South Gate Junior High School and had spent her first day at South Gate High School on Monday, was withheld by authorities.

No arrests had been made.