Girl, 16, Critically Wounded by Gunfire Outside High School : Violence: Cheerleader was returning to campus from a restaurant across the street. Witnesses say gunman on bicycle may have been shooting at a passing car.

A cheerleader was shot and critically wounded Tuesday afternoon outside Paramount High School after apparently being caught in gang gunfire, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies said Sheila Lorta, 16, had taken a break from cheerleading practice and was returning to the school from a restaurant across the street about 3:10 p.m. when a man on a bicycle opened fire, striking the girl in the head. Witnesses said the man appeared to be shooting at a passing car, investigators said.

“We have a lot of witnesses, and we’re confident that we’re going to find the suspect,” Sheriff’s Lt. Derry L. Derecict said.

Sheila was in extremely critical condition Tuesday evening at Charter Suburban Hospital in Paramount, hospital officials said. Dozens of grieving students and family members huddled in a crowded waiting room at the hospital.

“I can’t believe it’s (happened to) her,” said 15-year-old sophomore Jessica Mageno. “It could have been anyone. Why did it have to be her?”

The shooting, in the 14400 block of Downey Avenue, occurred near the McDonald’s restaurant where a 17-year-old Paramount honor student and track star was shot and killed in June on the day before he was to graduate.

Authorities said Sheila had just left friends at the restaurant before Tuesday’s shooting.

“It’s really weird that it would happen twice in such a short time,” said Michael Galvan, the restaurant’s night manager. “I don’t know. It’s getting real bad around here.”

Sheriff’s deputies described the gunman as 18 to 25, weighing 160 pounds, with black curly hair and wearing a white T-shirt with a “Hoya” insignia.

Investigators said Sheila was standing in the street waiting for traffic to pass when the gunman, who was riding a mountain bicycle, appeared to fire at a passing car but struck the girl instead.

As several young people watched in shock, the gunman rode away along Downey Avenue, deputies said.

In June, Alfred Clark, a 17-year-old honor student at the school, was gunned down in the McDonald’s after refusing to surrender his portable CD player.

Police arrested two teen-agers identified as members of a Compton gang.

Clark, who carried a 3.5 grade average while playing football and setting school records in track, had been accepted as a scholarship student at UCLA, where he planned to major in business while competing on the track team.