Girl, 7, Shot in Head From Passing Car Dies

Kanita Haley, the 7-year-old girl who was shot in the head by alleged gang gunmen in Watts as she tried to play baseball with her friends, died Friday night at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

“Her heart just stopped. That’s all,” a hospital spokeswoman said sadly, giving the time of death as 7:20 p.m. The girl had been on life-support machines since Wednesday evening, when she was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

Felled by Gunfire

Kanita had stepped up to take her turn at bat Wednesday when she was felled by gunfire, becoming the latest innocent victim of gang warfare in Los Angeles. She died just three days shy of her eighth birthday. Police say 70 children under 17 were murdered last year in the city, most of them due to gang violence.

She and other children were playing on a stretch of dirt inside the Imperial Courts housing project near the corner of Mona Boulevard and 115th Street, considered one of the toughest projects in the city. Because darkness was falling, parents in the project were just about to call their children inside when a beige-colored compact car sped around the corner with two people inside.

Shots Fired From Car

A man in the vehicle’s passenger seat started shooting at the children. Kanita was struck as she panicked and tried to run from the hail of bullets.

“We have no suspects in custody,” Detective Lionel Robert of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau Homicide said Friday night. “We don’t even have suspects in mind. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the situation.”