3 Adults, 1 Boy Held in Death of Girl, 14

Los Angeles police have arrested four members of two rival street gangs in connection with the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl Sunday morning as she walked home from a South-Central Los Angeles grocery store, officials said Friday.

Cynthia Gonzalez and her mother had purchased tortillas at a nearby market when rival gangs opened fire at each other at 97th and Main streets about 11 a.m., police said.

Caught in the cross-fire, Cynthia was shot in the torso and collapsed on the pavement as her mother shrieked. The girl’s 2-year-old sister was grazed by a bullet and suffered minor injuries.

LAPD officials said that on different days this week they arrested three adults and a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of murder.

Police expect the district attorney’s office Tuesday to charge the three adults with murder, Capt. Richard Bonneau of the LAPD’s Southeast Division said at a morning news conference. Police said the juvenile was charged Wednesday with murder.

Bonneau refused to release the names of the suspects, saying the investigation was continuing.

“We want to get the views of all the witnesses in this to make sure that we have all the suspects identified,” Bonneau said.

The sidewalks were bustling with people arriving for services at a nearby church when the shooting occurred. The gunfight was apparently triggered when members of one gang scrawled over a rival gang’s graffiti on a nearby wall.

Police served six search warrants this week as they investigated the killing, and confiscated a .38-caliber revolver they believe was the murder weapon.

Although her mother lives in the neighborhood, Cynthia was from Mexicali, Mexico, and was visiting when she was gunned down, police said.

Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the Southeast Division’s anonymous tip line at (323) 789-2760.