City Offers Reward in Shooting of Girl

Voicing outrage over the incident, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and wounded a 9-year-old girl in Pacoima on Saturday.

Councilman Alex Padilla called the shooting tragic. He said police asked for the reward and are planning to go door-to-door through the neighborhood looking for witnesses and information about the shooting, as well as attempt to restore public peace.

“An innocent 9-year-old girl [was] at home watching television,” Padilla told his colleagues. “It was about 10:30 p.m., and a stray bullet from a nearby gang-related shooting found its way through a wall into the home through a couch and into the young girl’s back.”

Padilla said the girl is in serious but stable condition.

The shooting is believed to have occurred between gang members near Hubert Humphrey Park.

The councilman said he has met with LAPD and Recreation and Parks Department officials about developing a strategy for combating gang violence, which has escalated in Pacoima in the last few weeks.

Noting that gang-related killings in Los Angeles have risen 84% in the first five months of 2000 compared with the same period in 1999, Padilla also asked for the police to explore how the new Operation Healthy Neighborhoods Program could be used to reduce gang violence around city parks.