EL MONTE : 3 Arrested in Slaying of 16-Month-Old Girl

Authorities arrested three alleged gang members Wednesday in the shooting death of a 16-month-old girl caught in gunfire in South El Monte last month.

The toddler, Maureen Nicole Ramirez of El Monte, was shot in the head Aug. 29 as she sat in her stroller on the porch of a South El Monte home. Two men were wounded in the shooting.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and El Monte police served search and arrests warrants at homes in El Monte at 7 a.m. and arrested Cesar Uribe, 18, Omar Colin, 21, and a 16-year-old boy, sheriff’s spokesman Matthew C. Rodriguez said.

A fourth suspect, a juvenile, was already in custody on a probation violation, Rodriguez said.

Maureen Nicole was shot about 9:30 p.m. when two men in their 20s walked up to a Sastre Street house where the child’s mother, who had been walking with her three children, stopped to chat, authorities said.

The men opened fire with semiautomatic weapons and fled on foot. Romero Castellanos, 31, and Jessie Medina, 23, were wounded during the shooting. They were treated and released from a hospital after the attack.

The suspects were being held without bail at the Temple City sheriff’s station on suspicion of murder. Sheriff’s Lt. Don Bear said he was especially pleased to have suspects in the case, adding: “This one kind of tugs at your heartstrings.”