Van Believed Used in Gang Attack Found by Deputies

Investigators Monday found an abandoned van that they believe was used in a gang-related shooting that killed a 3-year-old girl and a teenage boy and injured two adults at a nearby fast-food restaurant in Lynwood.

No arrests, however, were made in the Sunday night shooting deaths of preschooler Daisy Ibarra and a teenage boy who coroner’s officials had yet to identify Monday afternoon.

Investigators said two gunmen jumped out of the van at the drive-through lane of a busy Taco Bell restaurant at 11255 Long Beach Blvd. and opened fire on a blue Toyota carrying the four victims. The youngsters were in the back seat of the Toyota.

The adult passengers--the 20-year-old mother of the toddler and a 19-year-old male--were treated for gunshot wounds at an area hospital. Both are expected to survive. Investigators declined to identify the adults, saying to do so would jeopardize the victims’ safety.

Early Monday morning, two sheriff’s deputies on patrol several blocks from the shooting site found the van they said was previously stolen in South Gate and used by the shooters in Lynwood.

Investigators took fingerprints from the Chevy van and unsuccessfully used bloodhounds to try to catch a scent of the suspects.

The chairwoman of the Los Angeles-based Women Against Gun Violence said the shooting continues a disturbing trend: The number of children killed by gunfire has increased two years in a row in Los Angeles County.

“We are hoping that every time there is a shooting, people will grow more and more outraged,” said Ann Reiss Lane.

In 1997, the number of children 10 years old and younger who were killed by gunfire doubled to 10 from the previous year, according to Women Against Gun Violence. In 1998, the number of firearm deaths among victims 14 and younger rose 10% to 24 deaths, the group said.

The 10:45 p.m. shooting did not injure any customers in the Taco Bell, which is in a bustling shopping center near the corner of Imperial Highway and Long Beach Boulevard. The sound of the gunfire sent workers at a nearby video store diving for cover.

One neighbor said the shots sounded like a pack of firecrackers going off. “I didn’t want to look outside,” said longtime Lynwood resident Laura Castro, who was at home about a block from the shooting. “I wanted to turn off the lights and duck.”

Several nearby merchants said the shooting will only intensify their call for better police protection.

“There are never enough police around,” said Maritza Rivas, manager of a clothing store across the street from the Taco Bell. “In the morning, the walls are always covered with new graffiti.”

Lynwood Councilman Armando Rea, who is a sheriff’s deputy at the Men’s Central Jail, called Sunday’s shooting a tragic incident and urged any witnesses to the crime to contact police.

“It’s incumbent on community leaders and the clergy and businesses and people with good values and civic responsibility to report criminal conduct,” he said.

Rea added that the city launched a crackdown on gangs in Lynwood after a gang member shot and killed Sheriff’s Deputy Stephen Blair during a shootout in 1995.

Investigators declined to explain how they determined that the shooting Sunday was gang-related, except to say that witnesses described the gunmen as two 20-to-30-year-olds with shaved heads. A third man may have been driving the van during the shooting, sheriff’s deputies said.

Maria Ibarra, 29, of Lynwood, who identified herself as the sister-in-law of the 20-year-old shooting victim, said she doesn’t believe the wounded woman is involved in gangs.

Ibarra choked back tears when she described her slain 3-year-old niece.

“She was always a happy baby, always running around and playing with other kids,” said Ibarra, who showed up at the Taco Bell to discuss the shooting with investigators.