Young Hero Lives Under Cloud of Fear : Violence: Girl who carried her brother to safety during a gang shooting survived a wound to the heart. Now she no longer plays in her front yard, and friends say she has become more shy.

Cristal Anguiano is trying to live the life of a typical 12-year-old in South-Central Los Angeles: playing kickball, talking with school chums and brushing up on her studies in anticipation of her return to school next month.

But Cristal’s life has been anything but typical in the last few months. In February she gained wide media attention and support from hundreds of Los Angeles residents after she managed to carry her young brother Rafael to safety after she was shot in the heart outside her family’s modest bungalow. The errant bullet was fired in a gun battle between rival gangs on Feb. 2. Rafael was unharmed in the incident.

“They call me a hero, but I’m not sure,” the girl said with a shrug on Wednesday.

Hero or not, life has changed for the fifth-grader at South Park Elementary School, a concession to the ever-present reality of street-gang violence in her neighborhood near Manchester Avenue and San Pedro Street.

Her father no longer allows allow her to play in the front yard, where she was shot while waiting for an ice cream truck. She now leaves home only for an occasional shopping trip with her father. Family members and neighbors scrutinize anyone suspicious who comes into the neighborhood.

“The police come around more often but one is never sure who comes and goes around here,” said neighbor German Torres. “I now try to speak to everyone, to see if they’ll say ‘hello’ or anything at all.”

And according to the Cristal’s friends, even though she was always shy, she seems even more distant now.

During an interview at her home Wednesday, Cristal answered most questions with a grin, a nod of the head or a shrug of the shoulders. Her most definitive answer came when she was asked about street gangs.

“People should stay away from gangs,” she said quietly. “I am afraid of them.”

In February, news of Cristal’s plight spread and she was showered with money, toys, letters and praise as she recovered from emergency surgery at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. Retiring Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn called her a “heroic” girl.

She has received commendations from Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and California Atty. Gen. Dan Lundgren. In a letter received last week, Gov. Pete Wilson called her a hero.

“You are truly a brave young lady who can be proud of her exceptional response to a life-threatening situation,” Wilson wrote.

Asked about the praise, Cristal meekly said, “I don’t even know any of these people.”

The praise from public officials is part of a deluge of letters and gifts that fill a huge cardboard box in the family’s home.

Cristal said she does not remember much of the shooting.

“I was standing (holding my brother) when I started to hurt,” she recalled. “I took my brother to the porch.”

It was there that Cristal matter-of-factly told her parents: “I don’t feel good.”

And then, her “mom started screaming,” Cristal recalled.

Two suspected gang members were ordered to stand trial in connection with the shooting last week. Zaprico Glasper and Tony Davis, both 17, will be tried as adults on charges of attempted murder. The trial has been set for April 15.