Child Fatally Shot When Gang Members Intervene

A 3-year-old boy was fatally shot outside a Panorama City apartment complex when gang members trying to break up an argument between the boy’s aunt and uncle opened fire, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Alfredo Cardenas Jr., known to his family and neighbors as “Junior,” was pronounced dead at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys at 11 p.m. Thursday, about 90 minutes after a bullet struck him in the chest as he walked in the 14700 block of Blythe Street with his father, aunt, uncle and a baby cousin.

“I just remember hearing a gunshot and picking up my son,” Alfredo Cardenas Sr. said in Spanish as he struggled to hold back tears Friday. “He was dying in my arms.”

The shooting, which occurred about a block from the Cardenas apartment, appeared to be a case of area gang members trying to dispense their own form of street justice in combination with an act of chivalry gone bad, said Det. Al Aldaz of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division.

Police and relatives said an argument between the boy’s aunt and uncle involved some yelling and a little pushing as they walked in an open area from Strathern Street toward Blythe Street. Moments later, two men walked over to the couple and were joined by three other men who said they objected to how the boy’s uncle was treating the aunt.

After words were exchanged, the gang members attacked the uncle and one of them pulled out a gun and fired, Aldaz said.

“This is a case of the gang trying to flex their muscles in the area,” Aldaz said. “A gang member who believed that the woman had been hit approached the victim’s uncle and told him, ‘That’s no way to treat a lady.’”

No suspects had been arrested by late Friday, police said.

Inside the Cardenas’ two-bedroom apartment, the boy’s mother, Gregoria Velasquez Cardenas, cried as she looked at photographs of Alfredo. On a nearby coffee table was a homicide detective’s business card.

“He was so small and friendly,” she said of her son. “All he wanted to do was play.”

Alfredo was the youngest of four children. His sisters are ages 7, 9 and 17.

Neighbors recalled Alfredo as outgoing and talkative. They said he often whizzed through his apartment complex on his favorite toy, a scooter his family bought him more than a year ago.

“Junior, don’t go in the street!” neighbor Martin Galvan, 38, remembered hearing Gregoria yell to her son in Spanish. “He really knew how to ride that thing.”

Local residents reflected on the killing in an area with a reputation of being plagued by gangs, but which in recent years has seen overall crime drop dramatically, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Authorities said improvements came with new development, efforts by property owners to stand against crime and a 1993 court-ordered injunction that targeted Blythe Street gang members.

“Blythe Street is better off because of the injunction, enforcement efforts and other community resources,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergman. “But shootings like this show we still have a problem and we are going to have to continue to work on it.”

James Hearon, 22, who has lived on Blythe for four years, agreed that conditions are better now. “It was much worse years ago,” Hearon said. “Now, I’ll hear helicopters and once in a while I’ll hear gunshots, but I don’t feel like I should be afraid to walk down the street.”

Aside from spots of graffiti, parts of the neighborhood have what residents describe as a swap meet atmosphere. Families sell rose bouquets, clothing and religious paintings on street corners while others go door-to-door selling food and other goods.

But for some residents, the shooting reminded them of the street’s violent history, which has included rampant drug dealing.

“I told myself never to walk down Blythe,” said Galvan, who lives downstairs from Alfredo’s family. “I’ve seen how bad it can be in the daytime. I told myself never to go down there at night.”