Girl Shot in Heart by Gang Bullet Recovering : Violence: She speaks for first time since being wounded Sunday. Offers of help come from many who hear how the injured 11-year-old carried young brother to safety.

An 11-year-old South-Central Los Angeles girl, who managed to carry her 2-year-old brother to safety after a bullet from a gang battle struck her in the heart, was making steady improvement on Wednesday, calling out for her father from her hospital bed.

“Poppi,” relatives quoted Cristal Anguio as saying. “I want to see my daddy.”

Her parents, Angel and Maria Anguio, responded with hugs and kisses to the first words she had uttered since she was shot Sunday afternoon, Cristal’s aunt, Hermenina Anguio, said Wednesday.

The Anguios have kept an around-the-clock vigil at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center since Cristal was caught in gang gunfire outside her home on East 84th Place. Cristal was clutching her baby brother as they ventured outside to buy ice cream from a vending truck when she was hit in the upper chest by an errant bullet fired in a gang battle.

Cristal carried Rafael to safety before collapsing in the doorway of the family’s modest home.

She was near death when rushed to the medical center, where doctors operated several times to save her life. Hospital officials said the youngster’s condition was upgraded from critical to fair and improving late Wednesday.

The medical center has received numerous calls about Cristal after a story about her in Wednesday’s editions of The Times. Some called from as far away as Hawaii, offering money to help pay for the girl’s medical expenses, hospital officials said.

Others called The Times to offer help to Cristal and her family. Among those who offered aid were actor Gerald McRaney, star of the CBS-TV series “Major Dad,” and the producers of “Salute Your Shorts,” a children’s program on cable TV.

Officers at the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street Division said they were exploring the possibility of setting up a fund to aid the girl’s family.

Meanwhile, police detectives were pressing their search for the gunman, who witnesses say was in a black, two-door Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The car may have tinted windows and pin-striping.

Witnesses told officers the gunman was firing at the occupants of a brown, four-door Cadillac when Cristal was wounded. The two cars fled after the shooting, which occurred at 4:50 p.m. near 84th Place and Towne Avenue.

“It’s a solvable case,” Police Lt. Bruce Hagerty said.

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Shooting victim misidentified: Cristal Flores Aguiano is the correct spelling of the victim’s name.

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