Teen-Ager Charged With Sister’s Murder : Crime: Police say that Richard Hubler, 14, shot 12-year-old Gema Marie Hubler in the head at their Anaheim home last Thursday. She died Monday after being removed from life-support equipment.

A 14-year-old youth was charged with murder Monday when his 12-year-old sister--comatose after being shot in the head last week--died upon being removed from a hospital life-support system, police said.

The Orange County district attorney filed murder charges against 14-year-old Richard Hubler, who allegedly shot his sister, Gema Marie Hubler, in the upstairs bedroom of their Anaheim Shores home last Thursday.

The girl had been in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange since the shooting, and doctors gave her no hope for recovery. She was removed from a life-support system after consultation with family members and pronounced dead at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Anaheim Police Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said.

The brother, arrested Thursday, was being held in Orange County Juvenile Hall. Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent F. Romney said the youth will be tried as a juvenile since he is under 16. At the time of trial, a judge--rather than a jury--will decide if the youth is innocent or guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter, Romney added.

A detention hearing is scheduled this morning in Orange County Juvenile Court to determine if the youth should be released to the custody of his parents pending trial. Given the circumstances of this case, Romney said, it is not likely the boy will be released.

“I suspect the parents are not anxious to have him released to them,” Romney said.

The parents, James and Marie Hubler, declined to comment through a family spokesman reached at their home late Monday. They had asked hospital officials not to release any information about their daughter, including the type of injuries she received.

The youth initially told police that his sister had been shot during a break-in Thursday by “three masked men” at the family’s house on West Bayshore Drive.

But police arrested the youth that afternoon when they discovered inconsistencies in his statement and noted that he did not call for help promptly. Paramedics found the unconscious girl covered by a blanket, her head wrapped with white bandages.

Hedgpeth declined Monday to elaborate on why police sought the murder charges, other than to say: “We have enough cause to file the charges, from physical evidence and statements.” Police said the girl was shot with a rifle at about 12:30 p.m. A short time before, police said, the youth had been firing the weapon in the back yard.

Hedgpeth said that gunshot-residue tests of the youth’s hands were taken following the shooting and that the results should be available in several days.

According to school records and interviews with classmates of both children, Gema was a bright student who excelled in science, while her brother ran with rougher youths and was on the brink of dropping out of school. Gema was a sixth-grader at John Marshall Elementary School. Richard, an eighth-grader, was enrolled June 8 in Brookhurst Junior High School in Anaheim but apparently never showed up for class.