Girl, 14, Killed in Shootout

A 14-year-old girl was shot and killed Sunday morning when she was caught in a shootout between rival gangs in South Los Angeles, police said.

Cynthia Gonzalez was struck at least once in the torso about 11 a.m. while walking home from a market with her mother and 2-year-old sister, said Los Angeles Police Det. Sal LaBarbera.

Gonzalez’s sister was grazed by a bullet near her torso and treated at a local hospital for injuries. The girls’ mother, walking with them near the corner of 97th and Main streets, was unharmed, LaBarbera said.

“These were innocent victims that got caught in the cross-fire of the ongoing gang violence in this division,” said LaBarbera. “Usually in these gang shootings there are not too many innocent victims that get shot.”

Police said that Gonzalez and her family lived in the area, but that the girl was from Mexicali, Mexico. The three were crossing 97th Street when the rival gang members suddenly began shooting, police said.

A memorial of half a dozen candles were left burning on the sidewalk where Gonzalez was gunned down.

LaBarbera said police were investigating the possibility that the shooting was sparked by one gang writing graffiti in another gang’s turf.

Across from a market near the site where the shooting occurred, a wall was littered Sunday with what appeared to be fresh gang graffiti. Some of it had been crossed out, apparently by the rival gang.

Police spent the day unsuccessfully trying to find witnesses to the shooting.

“We know there were a lot of folks on the street out there,” said LaBarbera. “It happened in broad daylight, a couple of doors down the street from a church where services were about to begin.”

LaBarbera asked anyone with information to call (323) 789-1493.