Woman Is Killed by Stray Bullet

Gunfire pierced an alley fence Christmas Day, striking and killing a 46-year-old woman as she visited a neighbor in Southeast Los Angeles, police said.

Etelinda Moreira was in her neighbor’s kitchen about 5 p.m. Tuesday when someone opened fire in an alley on the 11200 block of South Main Street near 112th Street, said Sgt. Henry Quan of the LAPD’s Southeast Division.

At least one bullet struck a van parked in the backyard--narrowly missing two children, police said. Another hit Moreira in the neck.

Moreira was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, where she died, Quan said.

“There’s no evidence she was the intended target,” he said.

Police had no suspect or motive for the shooting late Wednesday.

Relatives said Moreira had emigrated from El Salvador 18 years ago. She worked for a Malibu family, living with them to care for their children, said her nephew Miguel Benitez, 24. On weekends, she returned home to her husband, Pedro Guzman, and two nephews, including Benitez.

On Christmas Eve, Moreira and Guzman had celebrated their first anniversary. “He’s destroyed. He can’t speak,” Benitez said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call detectives at (213) 485-6902 or (213) 485-6914.