4 Suspects Held in Woman’s Shooting Death

Four teenage members of the Blythe Street gang were arrested Friday morning for allegedly killing Magdalena Sandoval, 32, an innocent bystander to a shooting last November, police said.

The suspects, all ages 16 or 17, were arrested after investigators uncovered new evidence in the case, said Los Angeles Police Department Homicide Det. Al Aldaz, who declined to elaborate. The youths, whose names were not released because they are juveniles, were being held at Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, Aldaz said.

Sandoval was shot to death while walking to a convenience store in the 14600 block of Blythe Street in Panorama City with her 3-year-old daughter on Nov. 26. That stretch of Blythe Street, just west of Van Nuys Boulevard, has a history of problems with crime, gangs and violence.

Aldaz said Sandoval was shot by a gang member who was trying to hit rival gang members in a car.

“She was an innocent victim,” Aldaz said. “She was minding her own business when she was fatally wounded by the suspects.”

Sandoval had moved to Panorama City from Mexico just six months before she was killed and was separated from her husband, Aldaz said. Her daughter is now in the custody of her brother, Felipe Sandoval, and sister-in-law, Patricia Delatorre, of North Hollywood. Delatorre wiped tears from her eyes as police announced the arrest of the suspects Friday afternoon.

“[The family] is doing really good,” Aldaz said. “They are very happy to finally see some sort of ending to their nightmare.”

At least one of the suspects was already in custody at Sylmar Juvenile Hall and the others were arrested at their homes by gang units from Van Nuys, West Valley, North Hollywood, Devonshire and Operations Valley Bureau, Aldaz said.