Father and Son, 2, Shot in the Head : Crime: Gunman in the car ahead opened fire without warning at a stop sign in Pomona, police say. The injured man had reportedly been trying to leave a gang.

A 35-year-old man and his 2-year-old son were both shot in the head Sunday morning by a man who got out of the car in front of them at a stop sign in Pomona, walked up and “just opened fire,” police said.

Investigators say they believe the shooting was an act of gang retaliation; the father had been trying to get out of a gang and had recently moved out of the area to do so, police said.

Frank Cota was in critical condition late Sunday and his son, Mathew Frank Cota, was in very critical condition, said Pomona Police Lt. Larry Todd. The father was shot in the face, Todd said, and the boy had a bullet lodged in his brain.

“I wish all of Los Angeles could be dragged though this little boy’s hospital room to see how bad this city has become,” said Detective Dexter Cole. “We don’t know if he is going to make it or not. . . . We’re all just praying for the little guy.”

After being shot at least once, Cota drove to a fast-food restaurant half a mile away, where he pleaded with a crowd of breakfast customers and employees to call an ambulance for his son.

“All of a sudden, I heard this rumbling, yelling noise. And this man was holding this child who was just covered with blood; the poor baby’s head was just covered with blood,” said Jennifer Yu, manager of the Golden Ox restaurant on Mission Boulevard.

“I think the baby was in shock. It wasn’t making a sound; it was just staring into its father’s eyes. And the father was just totally hysterical,” Yu said. “All he was concerned about was his baby.”

The father and son were taken to an undisclosed hospital trauma center, Todd said. Police withheld the name of the hospital to protect the victims from the possibility of further attacks.

Hospital administrators particularly feared for the toddler’s life because of the bullet lodged in his brain, police said. Doctors did not operate Sunday for fear that extricating the bullet could cause more damage to the boy.

Detectives said they suspected soon after the shooting that it was not prompted by a traffic dispute because no words were exchanged beforehand and the cars did not hit each other.

Cota was apparently trying to leave his gang, Todd said, and as a result “was on the outs with his friends, to the point where they wanted to kill him.”

The shooting occurred at about 10 a.m. as Cota pulled up behind a station wagon at a stop sign on San Antonio Avenue near 9th Street, Todd said.

“The suspect exited from the passenger side, walked back to the victim’s vehicle and just opened fire,” putting six shots through the windshield, he said.

“Maybe it was one of those spray-and-pray” shootings, Todd said. “They may not have seen the baby in there. Even (gang members) don’t usually shoot young children.”

The gunman and driver were in a brown, four-door Chevrolet station wagon with damage to the right rear, Todd said.

After the shooting, Cota drove into the parking lot of the Golden Burger and ran inside, holding the toddler to his chest, Yu and other witnesses said. Stunned customers hurried to the counter where Cota stood sobbing and yelling for an ambulance.

Yu said Cota showed her at least one bullet wound to his temple but kept repeating that he was concerned only about his son. “He was saying, ‘Please hurry, please, oh my God, the baby,’ ” she said.

When paramedics arrived and separated father and son, the toddler began screaming, she said. They were taken away in different ambulances and airlifted to the trauma center, police said.

Stunned customers gathered outside the restaurant to discuss the shooting, Yu said.

“You have to think of the mentality of the person who shot them, that a little infant toddler was in the middle of all of this,” Yu said.

“It’s like life has no value anymore. This world is getting scarier.”