Girl Fatally Shot as She Watches TV in Her Home : Violence: Tanya Cadle, 13, dies hours after her parents have her disconnected from life support. Police call the incident an apparent drive-by shooting.

A 13-year-old girl was fatally shot through her family’s South Los Angeles living room window early Saturday as she watched television, a special occasion in which her normally strict mother had allowed her to stay up late because a friend was spending the night.

Tanya Cadle was rendered brain dead by a single shot to her head and died hours later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after her parents had her disconnected from life-support systems, a hospital spokesman said. There were no other injuries.

“I didn’t hear the shots, I just heard my son shouting, ‘Get down! Get down!’ ” said Tanya’s mother, Eleanor Cadle, a devout Seventh-day Adventist. “Then we came out here and found (Tanya’s girlfriend) on the floor and my daughter on the sofa.”

Los Angeles police described the crime in the 3000 block of South Hillcrest Drive as an apparent drive-by shooting. They had made no arrests Saturday.

Eleanor Cadle, a security officer at USC, said that she and her husband, Dean, a chemical technician for a wheel manufacturer, had no idea what led to the shooting but that they resented early news reports implying that the crime was gang related. “No one here is affiliated with the gangs and we have nothing to retaliate about,” she said firmly, as friends and fellow church members crowded her small home.

The family, originally from Belize, moved to the quiet street of well-maintained bungalows about two months ago in the belief that it was a step up from their home on South Catalina Street.

“I was looking for something better and it’s better than where I was,” Eleanor Cadle said.

The incident was one of a number of shootings that took place over the weekend, including a 13-year-old who was shot to death in Pomona while he slept.

At the Cadle home in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, grim family friends shook their heads in disbelief and anger as they took in the enormity of the violence. Bloodstains were visible on the brown sofa where Tanya had been watching television, across from a brightly lit Christmas tree. Lace and peach-colored curtains adorned the bullet-shatterred window and a well-thumbed Bible was on the coffee table.

Tanya was a B student at Forshay Junior High School and had just returned from a church youth meeting when she asked to stay up late watching a video, her mother said.

“They are a very nice family and they try to bring their kids up as best they can,” said Clarine Davis, a friend. “It’s a respectable family--that’s why it hurt so much when they said it was related to gangs.

“We don’t understand. We’re just baffled. We try to do things with our kids to keep them off the streets; we’re family people. You get to the point where you feel like you’re doing the best you can, and then the kids aren’t even safe when they are home.”

In other weekend violence:

* A 13-year-old boy was fatally shot as he slept on a sofa in his grandmother’s house in Pomona. Adrian Ferrusca of Claremont was killed about 1:30 a.m. Saturday when three suspects entered and left through the kitchen door, Pomona Police Officer Megan Blehr said.

Although police said the victim was not a gang member, they described the shooting as retaliation for the deeds of relatives, calling the home a “known gang location.” The family could not be reached for comment. No arrests have been made.

* A 45-year-old candy vendor was found shot to death in his van in the 1500 block of West 84th Place on Friday evening. Antonio Guerrero of Huntington Park was an apparent robbery victim, said Los Angeles Police Officer Roger Burton. No arrests have been made.

* Five alleged gang members were wounded--one critically--when they ventured into hostile territory in east Valinda and were ambushed with an AK-47 rifle, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said. The incident occurred about 11 p.m. Friday near Gemini Street and Sandalwood Avenue in the San Gabriel Valley.

Two suspects, ages 13 and 14, were being questioned Saturday afternoon but no charges had been filed, said Sheriff’s Deputy George Ducoulombier.

The victims were identified as Michelle Frondina, 18, of La Puente, listed in extremely critical condition at Queen of the Valley Hospital with wounds to her chest and back, and Edward Guerrero, 19, of La Puente, in serious but stable condition at County-USC Medical Center with multiple wounds to his upper torso. In stable condition were John Salazar, 18, of La Puente, at County-USC Medical Center; and two juveniles, ages 17 and 16, at Brea Community Hospital and Whittier Hospital Medical Center.

* A 24-year-old alleged gang member, suspected of fatally stabbing a mother of four during a Thursday night crime rampage, surrendered to police in Long Beach Saturday afternoon.

Darin Percy of Los Angeles was booked on suspicion of murder. Police allege he is the “actual knife-wielder” responsible for the death of Tomasa Rivas, 44, who was robbed as she returned from a grocery trip with her husband, Jesus Rivas, 52. Seven other suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident.