Baby Girl Shot in Head Is Latest Victim of Gang Feud

“I thought that my little sister was dead,” said 10-year-old Ana Anaya, recalling the moments when she saw her 9-month-old sister crying, her tears mixing with the blood that spurted from her face.

She didn’t die, but Priscilla Cabrales remained in a hospital bed Wednesday after becoming an innocent victim in an urban war between two longtime rival gangs in El Sereno.

Dionisia Cabrales was unloading groceries from her minivan in front of their apartment in the 2900 block of Lowell Avenue on Tuesday night about 8:50 when gang members fired at rival gangsters. One of the bullets struck Priscilla in the head while two other children watched in horror.

Priscilla, the youngest of three girls in the family, was reported in fair condition Wednesday.

“It’s basically a simple case of innocent victims caught in gang warfare,” said LAPD Det. Ben Lovato of the Hollenbeck station.

Lovato said that the attacking gunmen’s intended targets were rival gang members who live in the same Lowell Avenue apartments as the Cabrales family.

Gang members in one car fired at rivals getting out of another vehicle but instead hit the infant in the minivan, which was behind the intended targets, said Sgt. Alex Salazar.

Police investigators interviewed neighbors and followed up on leads but no suspects were in custody.

According to neighbors in the Lowell apartments, the Cabraleses had recently moved into the three-story complex. The father, Salvador Cabrales, works as an electrician while Dionisia is a homemaker.

“They’re good people . . . it’s sad,” a neighbor and friend said of the Cabraleses.

Salvador Cabrales was reluctant to answer reporters’ questions, saying, “How would you feel if your daughter had gotten shot?”

Nevertheless, Cabrales permitted his 10-year-old daughter to talk to reporters.

Ana said she was helping her infant sister out of her safety seat when she heard gunfire. Bullets splintered windows on both sides of the minivan, and one struck Priscilla.

“I was holding her in my arms,” said Ana, as she showed reporters the reddish scrapes from shattered glass on her left arm. The parents put a cloth over the child’s head to try to stop the bleeding, said Ana. Paramedics took Priscilla to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Wednesday, Salvador Cabrales said.

The bullet struck Priscilla’s left cheekbone and came out through the left ear, hospital spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda said.

“She has a fractured left cheek and an extremely swollen face,” said De La Cerda. “Her CAT scan came out normal. It’s too early to say if she is going to have any damage to her hearing.”

A youth who said he used to “kick back” with local gang members from the Lowell apartments, described the ongoing feud between the Lowell and Locke gangs.

“They are worst enemies, they’ve been at war for years,” said the youth. “Every summer something like this happens.”

So far this year, one homicide has been attributed to the gang feud, said Lovato.

The aging building in which the Cabraleses live is the only apartment complex in a middle-class neighborhood of mostly single-family homes.

Art Flores, who lives close by on Allen Street, said of the neighborhood: “Sometimes it’s quiet, sometimes you hear shots every now and then.”

But, Flores said, “These apartments here [on Lowell], they always have problems.”