Commerce Girl, 11, Found Shot to Death Inside Family Vehicle
An 11-year-old girl was found shot to death in her family’s sport utility vehicle, parked in the driveway of their Commerce home early Thursday morning.
A handgun lay nearby, and the gunshot to her upper torso apparently was self-inflicted, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Scott Butler said.
The mother had noticed that the girl wasn’t in her room at 7 a.m., Butler said. The family called the Sheriff’s Department to file a missing child report. Deputies were on their way when family members discovered the girl’s body.
Sheriff’s officials said they didn’t know if the shooting was accidental, and they would not say where the gun came from.
The parents are devastated, according to Juan Dominguez, the girl’s uncle. “They’re just going around her room and looking at her things and crying,” he said. “They’re not even talking. They are just trying to remember her.”
Dominguez described his niece as “a really, really joyful child. She would always kiss you and hug you.”
He said his wife talked to the niece Wednesday and she “was happy about going to school.”
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