Girl Is Shot at Palm Desert Clinic in Argument Over Abortion; Boyfriend, 17, Is Arrested

A 17-year-old boy angered by his girlfriend’s decision to have an abortion shot her in the neck in the waiting room of a Palm Desert clinic Thursday and was arrested about six hours later when deputies broke into his parents’ home, authorities said.

The girl was in critical condition, they said.

Witnesses said that about 11 a.m., the youth argued with the girl at the Women’s Health Center about her claim that it was not he who had made her pregnant and about her decision to have an abortion. He then allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot her.

Dr. Joseph Durante, who had been scheduled to examine the girl, rushed to the waiting room after nurses heard shouting and then two gunshots.

The girl “was lying on a couch and she was full of blood,” Durante said. “I applied pressure to her neck, the right side; it looked serious. Her pulse was OK. She talked minimally, but gave no information on the context of the argument.”

The suspect allegedly fled in a pickup truck. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department issued a warning, saying he was armed and dangerous.

About three hours later, they found the truck at his parents’ home in Indio, where more than 30 officers converged. The parents were not home, and the boy was locked inside, authorities said. They did not try to contact him, but reached the parents by phone after about 2 1/2 hours and received permission to break in.

The suspect surrendered without a struggle. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said he couldn’t walk and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. He was taken to a hospital. Authorities did not release the victim’s name nor details of her condition, at her family’s request.

She was hospitalized at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

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Times staff writers Louis Sahagun, Seema Mehta and Janet Wilson contributed to this report.