Stray Shot From Gunfight Wounds Girl at Mall

A 7-year-old girl was shot and wounded in Little Saigon at 7:15 p.m. Sunday when a stray bullet from a gunfight across the street passed by a statue of a smiling Buddha and then through a second-story window of the Asian Gardens Mall, police said.

The girl, whose identity was not released, was hit in the leg at the shopping center, in the 9100 block of Bolsa Avenue. She was reported in good condition at Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center and was expected to be released soon, a nurse said.

Across the street at the Asian Village shopping center, gunfire had erupted in front of a Vietnamese restaurant. A man was hit three times in the torso, police said. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was listed in critical condition.

“He had holes all through him,” Sgt. Sean Williamson said.

A second man standing in front of the restaurant was hit in the leg, Williamson said. He was in stable condition at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center.

Jeff Dougherty, 23, of Fountain Valley was dining in the plaza when he heard multiple shots. A former Army medic, he rushed to the scene, where he used towels to cover the wounds of the man hit in the torso and used his bare hands to extract a bullet from the victim.

“About 100 of us were celebrating my buddy’s wedding,” Dougherty said. “When I heard the shots I got up from the table. You can’t let somebody bleed to death.”

A bloody rag and shell casings lay in the parking lot as investigators cordoned off the area and searched the scene for evidence.

The names and ages of the two male victims were not available late Sunday.