Wounded Girl, 12, Still in Critical Condition : Crime: Investigators discredit a youth’s story that ‘three masked men’ wounded his sister. The family does not own the small-caliber rifle under suspicion.

A 12-year-old Anaheim Shores girl who police said was shot in the head by her teen-age brother remained in critical condition Friday while investigators continued to prepare an attempted-murder case against the youth.

Police Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said detectives have thoroughly discredited the 14-year-old brother’s original story that his sister, Gema Marie Hubler, had been shot during a break-in Thursday by “three masked men” at the family’s house on West Bayshore Drive.

While police tried to determine what happened, classmates of both children and school records revealed Friday that Gema is a bright student who excels in science, while her brother runs with rougher youths and is on the brink of dropping out of school.

Police arrested the youth Thursday afternoon when they discovered inconsistencies in his statement about the break-in and noted that he did not call help promptly for his gravely wounded sister. Paramedics found the unconscious girl covered by a blanket, her head wrapped with white bandages.

“It was false,” Hedgpeth said of the youth’s first version of events. “He lied to us.”

Based on the youth’s statement, police searched the neighborhood for suspects for more than an hour with the help of a helicopter and police dogs. One person was briefly detained after a neighbor reported that she had seen a “man acting strangely,” police said.

“Even though we felt uncomfortable with his story,” Hedgpeth said, “we knew that if the ‘suspects’ got away because we ignored him, we would have felt bad. We wanted to leave no stone unturned.”

Police said the girl was shot with a rifle about 12:30 p.m. at the family’s two-story stucco home in the 1900 block of West Bayshore. Neither child had been at school. Police said the youth was alone with his sister and had been firing the weapon earlier in the back yard.

How the youth obtained the small-caliber rifle believed to have been used in the shooting remains unclear. Police have suspicions about where the rifle came from, Hedgpeth said, but he declined to elaborate.

He did say, however, that the Hubler family does not own the weapon.

Hedgpeth said gunshot residue tests of the youth’s hands should be completed in several days. Weapons discharge fine particles of powder that can be detected on the skin after they have been fired. When he was arrested, police placed the youth’s forearms in two brown grocery bags to preserve the gunpowder, if any, on his hands.

Gema was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where she underwent surgery for a single gunshot wound to her head. Her brother is being held at Juvenile Hall on suspicion of attempted murder.

Hospital officials said the children’s parents, James and Marie Hubler, had asked them not to release information about the girl, including the type of injuries she received. James Hubler is an electrician at Hughes Aircraft Co. in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Meanwhile, on Friday at John Marshall Elementary School, about 90 of Gema’s sixth-grade classmates made a recording of their sorrow and get-well wishes, which they hope to send to her at the hospital.

The school district also called in a crisis intervention team of two psychologists and a nurse to talk to students and offer counseling for those who want it. Marshall will dedicate an assembly to the girl on June 22.

“The children are very surprised and saddened by it, and, of course, they are thinking of Gema,” said Janet Grant, principal of Marshall.

Greg Morrissey, a substitute teacher at Marshall, described the girl as a bright, athletic youngster who plays softball, excels at science projects and is “capable of doing good work in just about any field.”

She received A and B grades and was president of her class last semester. At the time she was shot, she and about eight other students had been choreographing a dance routine set to rap music.

“Gema looked like your average sixth-grader,” Morrissey said. “She had light-brown hair, braces on her teeth and wore tennis shoes, shorts and other informal clothes.”

By contrast, school records and Walker Junior High School students indicate that her brother is a poor student and potential dropout with a high absentee rate. They described him as somewhat of a daredevil--but not the type of person who would try to kill someone.

In June, 1989, the youth attended a special program for students identified as having a high risk of dropping out, according to Anaheim Union High School District records. He completed the program July 13 and was cleared to return to regular school in September.

Enrollment documents show that he continued his eighth-grade education but moved from school to school until he finally ended up at Walker Junior High in La Palma. He left that campus June 8 to go to Brookhurst Junior High in Anaheim. Apparently, he never showed up for class.

Brookhurst Principal Ken McKee said only that the youth had been a student at the school but is not currently enrolled. In a prepared statement, McKee described the youth as “a capable young man, sensitive and truthful.”

A group of Walker students, however, said Gema’s brother acts tough, but they said they do not think that he is violent. One youth called him a “cool, surfer type,” implying that he is not easily riled.

Others said the youth has been a poor scholar and has failed some classes. Rebellious, popular and casual were the words used to describe him.

“I don’t think he meant to do it. He wouldn’t shoot his sister,” said Carolyn Martin, 13, adding that she had once been the youth’s girlfriend. “He probably didn’t know it was loaded.”

Tina Alfaro, another classmate, said that although the youth is something of a “daredevil,” she too is sure the shooting was an accident.

Alfaro said he “is the type of person who would mess around” in jest with a gun. “But I think it was just an accident.”

Times staff writer Robert Pierre and correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

CHILDREN AND GUNS

IN THE UNITED STATES: An average of one child dies each day in an accidental shooting, according to the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. The Washington-based group says 42% of the shootings in one study occurred in the afternoon, and in two-thirds of the cases the children were unsupervised.

IN CALIFORNIA: At least 38 children aged 16 or younger were shot by other children in 1989, and 17 of the victims died, according to the center. In 1988, 44 children aged 14 or younger were arrested for homicide, according to the state Bureau of Criminal Statistics. The national total was 201 arrests in the same age group.

IN ORANGE COUNTY: 33,571 handguns were purchased last year. The National Rifle Assn., which estimates that Americans own 65 million handguns, says 58% of owners say they have the guns for protection and 13% have actually used a weapon to defend themselves. According to Handgun Control Inc., a San Francisco-based lobbying group, 48% of the children ages 14 and under who were involved in unintentional shootings used guns they found at home.

KIDS AND THE LAW: Minors are prohibited from carrying concealed or loaded weapons or ammunition without written permission from parents. However, between 1985 and 1989, California schools reported a 43% increase in the number of guns confiscated from middle-schools students and a 50% rise in the number taken away from high school students.

PARENTS AND THE LAW: In principle, parents may be charged with child endangerment if they were particularly negligent in allowing a child access to a firearm. Orange County prosecutors cannot remember a case in which such charges were filed, however. “You’d have to show that the parents knew the consequences were likely to occur,” said Kathleen M. Harper, assistant head of court for the Orange County district attorney’s juvenile division. “That is rarely the case.” A new Florida law makes parents criminally responsible for use of their guns by their children, but so far no one has been convicted. Some bereaved parents do, however, file civil lawsuits alleging criminal negligence.