‘So Sad. It Was Only a Child.’

For two days, the ripped remnants of yellow police tape wound tightly around a light pole offered official notice that this Inglewood corner was the place where 2-year-old Erick Jimenez lost his life.

By late Sunday afternoon, another kind of marker had blossomed at the scene--a jumbled bouquet of light blue balloons, tied to a pole a few feet from where the toddler died, the victim of misdirected gang bullets that struck him as he rode on his father’s shoulders late Friday.

On a card dangling forlornly from a white ribbon attached to the balloons, an anonymous mourner had jotted down a few words that spoke for an entire community: “Way too many children have been killed.”

For many residents who said they are almost accustomed to the plague of violence in the community, Erick’s death was saddening, but not shocking. In this gritty strip of Inglewood that lies in the shadow of the Forum, children regularly practice ducking when gunfire crackles.

“There are so many shootings here--this always happens,” Irma Campos, 27, said in Spanish. “People can’t go outside without fear.”

City officials, however, said homicides have dramatically decreased in Inglewood this year.

“This one was really a surprise, in those terms,” said Inglewood City Councilman Garland Hardeman. “Everybody is very unhappy when an incident like this occurs.”

Rodolfo Jimenez and Odalio Porcayo, the slain boy’s parents, had left a restaurant and were walking home along Prairie Avenue with Erick and their 1-year-old daughter just before midnight Friday. When they reached the corner of 102nd Street, a volley of gunfire erupted from a group of people standing across the street.

The toddler, covered in blood, toppled off his father’s shoulders to the sidewalk below. His mother screamed in anguish. His father bent over the prone body of the young boy, sobbing.

The shooter, police said, was apparently aiming for rival gang members riding by in a passing car.

Police said they suspect Erick’s killer is a 16-year-old alleged gang member arrested along with nine others after the incident.

Investigators could not be reached for comment Sunday, and police could not say how many of the suspects remained in custody.

Few neighbors said they were surprised to hear shots on Prairie Avenue--they just felt lucky they weren’t caught in the cross-fire.

“It’s a dangerous street,” said Francisco Gutierrez, 23, who lives with some cousins in a small cluster of bungalows at the intersection where Erick died. The other three corners are empty lots, overgrown with weeds. The small buildings along the rest of the wide boulevard are barred and gated with high fences.

“The gang members are always here,” Gutierrez said in Spanish. “This is just so sad--it was only a child.”

Ella Setzler’s granddaughter had just walked outside to catch the bus when she heard the bullets whiz by. Setzler dashed outside and saw Rodolfo Jimenez hunched over the body of his son.

“I couldn’t stand looking,” said the 55-year-old woman. “I had to go back inside. I tell you, too many children are gone because of all that violence.”

A 9-year-old boy said he was upstairs watching “Tom and Jerry” cartoons in the dark when the shooting pierced the quiet night. He rushed to the window of his 102nd Street house and watched Erick slump off his father’s shoulders and fall to the sidewalk.

“The woman screamed, ‘Oh, my baby!’ and started crying,” said the somber young boy. “She held him and she was covered in blood.”

The boy, like many other children in the area, is well-versed in the art of avoiding gunfire. The local elementary schools regularly practice shooting drills: An alarm sounds and the children quickly crouch under their desks. Sometimes the alarm goes off once a week, students said.

Luis Campos, 12, and his young siblings demonstrated the drill on their front lawn, drawing their arms over their heads.

Are they afraid when the alarm goes off?

They shrugged.

A few months ago, shots were fired from a passing car and wedged into the porch of their house, a few inches from their uncle’s head. Six months ago, a 14-year-old boy was shot at the end of their street as he scaled the fence of the elementary school.

The violence is almost common, but the horror remains, residents said. News of Erick’s death darkened the faces of many neighbors Sunday.

“If I was that father, I don’t know what I’d do,” said Ulises Hernandez, 22. “I’d kill myself.”

Another neighbor, who said he saw the gang members running down his driveway after the shooting, shook his head. This was the second shooting in front of his apartment this year.

“It seems like it will end, you know,” he said, staring into space. “It seems like it’s just got to stop. But it continues, night after night. It just keeps going.”