Infant Loses 2 Fingers in Shooting Inside Home

A newborn baby’s two fingers were shot off and her father was shot in the chest when two men in dark suits posing as pie salesmen opened fire inside a South-Central home late Saturday morning, police said.

Doctors were unable to reattach the fingers on the infant’s left hand. She and her father were in good condition Saturday night at Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center, a hospital official said. Police did not release their names because the family feared retaliation.

About 11:20 a.m., police said, two men in their 20s went to the home along the 1100 block of W. 81st Place and sold two pies to the occupants. After making the sale, the suspects--apparently intent on robbery--entered the house by requesting to use the bathroom, LAPD spokesman Eduardo Funes said.

When one of the men came out of the bathroom, he brandished a handgun and fired several times at the father, police said. The second man then shot at a woman but she was not injured.

The 17-day-old girl, who was in her crib during the attack, most likely was hit when a bullet ricocheted off a wall, police said.

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he was in the shower when he heard numerous shots.

“They did some serious shooting out there,” the neighbor said.

Police said the men had been seen walking through the neighborhood before the shooting. The suspects fled on foot without taking any property, Funes said.

“When we arrived on the scene, we saw a woman cradling a baby in her arms and the baby’s fingers were bleeding,” said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

“Paramedics immediately began searching the crib in search of the detached digits. We took those severed fingers along with the baby in the same ambulance with the hopes that doctors would be able to reattach them.”