Shots From Car Hit Girl, 3, at Play in House

A 3-year-old girl playing in the living room of her family’s home in Compton was shot in the back Wednesday when someone in a passing car opened fire on the house, police said.

The victim was in stable condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center where she was treated for two gunshot wounds to the back, said Lt. M.D. Bunton of the Compton Police Department. Police did not release the names of the child or her family.

The girl had been playing on a couch at about 3 p.m. when occupants of a passing car fired bullets into the house in the 200 block of North Willow Avenue, according to neighbors and police.

“My wife was here and my kids were in the front yard,” said Jose Olivares, a neighbor. “The bullet went through the door and hit the girl.” Olivares said he and his wife were caring for the girl’s two sisters and two brothers while her parents went to the hospital. Neighbors said gang members and young drug dealers congregate on the block, but added they did not believe the family was involved with such activities.

“Every other day there’s shooting,” Olivares said. “My house even has a few bullet holes. Everytime we hear a bullet we go to the floor.”