Teen-Ager Held in Shooting at Westminster Mall : Violence: Police say the victim and suspect know each other but have not determined if the attack was gang related. The 13-year-old girl remains in critical condition.

A La Quinta High School student was arrested Thursday in connection with the shooting of a 13-year-old girl Wednesday at the crowded Westminster Mall.

Phong Thanh Dang, 18, was arrested without incident when he returned to his home in Santa Ana at 2:15 a.m. Officers had been waiting there for several hours, said Westminster Police Sgt. Bill Lewis.

“The victim and the suspect were acquaintances, but they did not have any kind of involved relationship,” Lewis said. “They know each other from traveling in some of the same circles. She was able to give investigators his name.”

The girl, whom police declined to identify, was in critical condition Thursday at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. She was shot twice in the back and underwent surgery Wednesday night.

Authorities would not say if the attack was gang related. Witnesses told police that there was no verbal exchange or flashing of gang signs before the shooting.

“We have not eliminated that possibility, but at this point we are still looking for a motive,” Lewis said. “We’ve interviewed about 40 witnesses and are now in the process of piecing it all together.”

The girl’s uncle, who declined to give his name, was among those holding vigil Thursday at the hospital. He said the family is fearful of retaliation and reluctant to speak about the incident.

“I don’t know about all this stuff with the gangs,” he said. “She’s a straight-A student. Her school record speaks for itself. She’s been a student of the month and got all kinds of awards.

“(The family) is in shock,” he said. “Kids 13 and 12, everyone has guns. It’s crazy. It really shocked me that this was in a mall. It seems like nobody is safe anymore.”

Police said that as the girl was being treated for her wounds at the mall, she identified Dang as the gunman responsible for firing more than five rounds from the upper level of the mall into a group of youths standing below.

The 4 p.m. shooting sent shoppers running into nearby stores.

“We do not know if she was the intended victim,” Lewis said. “He fired into a group of young ladies and she happened to be the only one struck. Certainly other people could have been struck by the bullets.”

Dang was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and is being held on $250,000 bail at the Orange County Jail. He is expected to be arraigned today at Municipal Court in Westminster.

Dang, who came to the United States from Vietnam 13 years ago, just finished his junior year at La Quinta High School in Westminster. Principal Mitch Thomas said Thursday that Dang was a leader among “a group we felt were gang-related kids.”

“He was definitely with the wrong group of kids,” Thomas said. “But I didn’t see him as someone who would pull a trigger. He was capable but didn’t apply himself academically. He had very caring parents.”

A man who lives with the suspect’s family said Thursday that the teen-ager’s arrest came as a shock to his parents, who he said run a beauty shop in Long Beach.

“(Dang’s) mother came home and said, ‘Did you hear about the shooting at the mall today?’ ” he said. “She didn’t know it was her son they picked up until the police showed up here later.”

Neighbors said that Dang’s parents are typically gone all day tending to their business and that a group of youths would often gather there in the parents’ absence.