Woman, Boy Hit in Drive-By Shooting : Gangs: Mother of 6-year-old said she left her husband ‘to get away from this.’

A 6-year-old boy, whose mother said she was trying to escape her estranged husband’s gang life style, was seriously wounded Tuesday when alleged gang members opened fire at a rival in Pomona and hit the child instead, police said.

Another woman was also wounded in the shooting, becoming the fourth member of her family to be shot in what her relatives believe were gang-related incidents.

The child, Daniel Rodriguez, was in critical condition after surgery for a head wound at Pomona Valley Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Olga Perez, 23, was in good condition, also with a head wound, the spokeswoman said.

The boy’s mother, Marie Rodriguez, 23, said she had separated from Daniel’s father and moved in with Perez a month ago, partly because of her husband’s gang affiliation.

“I left him to get away from this,” she said at the hospital. “I just want this to stop.”

She said she and Perez were cleaning house at about 11:30 a.m. when they took down the curtains. She said she saw men flashing gang signs with their hands as they drove slowly by. She said she recognized the men as members of a rival gang of her husband’s.

A neighbor who police said belongs to a gang was on the porch, officers said.

Rodriguez said she pushed one of her two children inside and was about to shut the door when “the next thing I saw was my son lying on the floor holding his head and crying. I don’t remember any shots. I just saw the glass breaking.”

Police said they believe the shooting was directed at the unidentified neighbor as he stood on the porch in the 300 block of East Monterey Avenue.

Two men had twice driven by in separate cars when the shots were fired, striking Perez--the mother of three children between 2 and 5--and the Rodriguez boy, Lt. Ron Frazier said.

“They were just innocent bystanders who just happened to get in the way,” said Kris Reece, 28, a neighbor. “She’s a good person, and I don’t see what a little kid could do to cause a shooting.”

Police found the gunmen’s cars--a late-model gold Honda and a 1964 Chevrolet Impala--abandoned near the shooting scene. Investigators were checking them for fingerprints, Frazier said.

No weapons were found and no arrests have been made, the lieutenant said.

Perez’s mother, Olga Gomez, 52, said her daughter is the fourth of her eight children to be wounded in what she believes were gang-related attacks. Her 24-year-old son is a quadriplegic as a result of a drive-by shooting, she said.

“All my kids graduated,” she said. “What for? So they could get shot as soon as they could do something for themselves.”

She alleged that the gang members responsible for Tuesday’s shooting belong to the same group behind the shooting of her other three children.

“They don’t care,” she said. “They’re animals. They could see the children there, but they just shoot and run.”

She said there were arrests after the earlier shootings, but that there were no prosecutions because witnesses were afraid to testify.

“I wish I had seen this,” she said. “I certainly wouldn’t be afraid to testify. I’ve got nothing to lose. They’ve taken all my family.”

Pomona Police Sgt. Ron Windell said investigators have not determined whether there was one gunman or several. He said at least one gunman fired buckshot.

“You build up a callousness to a lot of this,” Windell said. “But when you see a 6-year-old kid with his brains spilled out, it kind of rips all the callouses you’ve built up.”