Woman, Girl Found Shot and Dumped

A young woman and an unidentified girl were found shot in the head, critically wounded and dumped 2 1/2 miles apart in the northeastern San Fernando Valley early Monday in what police were investigating as possibly related cases.

One of the victims may be as young as 12 years old, according to a doctor who examined her, Police Lt. Bernard D. Conine said.

The other, described as 17 to 21 years old, has been identified through fingerprints but police refused to release her name or other information until relatives had been notified.

Conine said police are investigating the cases as possibly related because both victims were shot more than once in the head and upper torso and abandoned in a similar fashion. They were discovered about 30 minutes apart not long after midnight, each by a different motorist, Conine said.

“We haven’t found a connection yet, but we expect to,” Conine said, adding that the shootings were very similar.

He and detectives on the case declined to discuss other details, including exactly where the victims had been shot.

Both victims were in critical condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills and were on life-support systems, Conine said.

The woman was found about 12:30 a.m. in the 10300 block of Woodman Avenue near Devonshire Street in Mission Hills. She was lying in a gutter, police said.

Detective Al Ferrand, head of the Foothill Division’s homicide investigators, acknowledged that the woman had a criminal record--which enabled police to identify her by her fingerprints--but declined to release details.

The younger victim was found shortly after 1 a.m. in the 9400 block of Arleta Avenue, near Branford Street in Arleta. She was lying in the grass strip between the street and the sidewalk, police said.

Neither had identification or fit the description of women reported missing, he said.

Both were described as Latinas.

Blood was drawn from each to determine whether they were drug users, but results were not yet available, Conine said.