Boy Wounded in Ambush Goes Home : Violence: A full recovery is expected. Police press investigation into gang shooting that killed his 3-year-old sister.

With his small leg wrapped in a blue cast, 2-year-old Joseph Kuhen went home Wednesday, three days after gang members sprayed bullets into the car he was riding in, wounding him in the foot and killing his sister.

“He’s doing fine and the family is happy to have him home,” Tina Dalton, the child’s aunt, said shortly after Joseph was released from County-USC Medical Center Wednesday afternoon.

The shooting occurred Sunday about 1:45 a.m., when the children were returning with family members from a barbecue. The driver of their car took a wrong turn, winding up on a dark dead-end street in a gang-ridden Cypress Park neighborhood.

In what Los Angeles police are calling an unprovoked attack, gang members surrounded the car full of adults and children and opened fire. Stephanie Kuhen, 3, died from a bullet wound in the head. The car’s driver, Timothy Stone, was superficially wounded when he was shot in the back.

Police say they are pleased with the progress of their investigation but reported no developments Wednesday.

Standing outside their Glassell Park home after picking up Joseph from the hospital, family members thanked the public and police for their response and urged anyone with information in the case to come forward.

“The outpouring has overwhelmed our family,” Dalton said.

The children’s mother, Robynn Kuhen, 26, condemned the gunmen as “cowardly bastards. They knew the babies were in the car and they did it anyway,” Kuhen said, her voice quavering.

“Right now, it’s just devastating,” she said of her daughter’s death.

Dalton said that as long as Joseph’s wound did not become infected, he was expected to fully recover.

The shooting has garnered widespread attention, prompting remarks of outrage from President Clinton, the Los Angeles City Council and others.

Councilman Mike Feuer has introduced a motion calling for police and other agencies to recommend steps that can be taken to suppress gang violence.

“I think it’s very possible that we’re going to find a need for more accountability and more direction and more coordination,” Feuer said. “I do not want a series of reports. . . . More empty words is not what I’m looking for here.”

*

Times staff writer Efrain Hernandez contributed to this story.