16-Year-Old Girl Fatally Shot on Street

A 16-year-old Panorama City girl was fatally shot this weekend in front of several apartment complexes where youths regularly hang out, police said Saturday.

Melinda “Mindy” Carmody was shot several times in the upper body in the 18000 block of Schoenborn Street in Northridge, Los Angeles police said.

Police said they have no motive or suspect in the shooting.

Residents in nearby apartments said they heard about five or six gunshots about 9:15 p.m. Friday, then went outside to find the girl lying face down in the middle of the street. Paramedics took Carmody to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where she died.

“There was nothing anyone could do, not even the paramedics, except to just pick her up and transfer her,” said a 59-year-old woman who lives nearby.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she recognized Carmody as part of a group of 15 to 20 youths who regularly meet in front of the apartment complexes next to Northridge Middle School. The woman said she saw the group minutes before the shooting.

“It’s sad. That’s what happens when you hang out with the wrong crowd,” she said.

Relatives said Melinda lived with her mother, Susan Carmody. The teenager had been schooled at home for the past two years because of her mother’s concern over violence in schools, relatives said.

“She just wanted to keep her safe,” said Debbie Caulfield, the girl’s aunt.

Last year, Melinda began dating a 23-year-old gang member, whom Caulfield described as quiet and soft-spoken.

Relatives said that when Melinda ended the relationship in March, the man and a friend broke into her home and kidnapped her. She was returned hours later, and the ex-boyfriend was arrested two days later when he was caught prowling around the house, relatives said.

The relatives said Melinda had testified against her ex-boyfriend in the criminal case last Wednesday. Police and the district attorney’s office could not verify that information.

Melinda’s family last saw her around 7 p.m. Friday as she left with friends to go to a club.

“She was a good kid,” said Caulfield, who described her niece as full of life, and always ready to help her family and friends.

Caulfield said she would miss the trips she and Melinda took to the beach.

“She was the perkiest, the spunkiest person . . . always smiled, always joked,” Caulfield said.