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A 10-year-old girl was shot in the head and gravely wounded on Friday evening at around 6 p.m. in Boyle Heights, reports KABC.
The shooting took place close to the intersection of Chicago Street and Rogers Avenue. The girl was transported to the L.A. County/USC Medical Center where she underwent emergency surgery for most of Friday night. KNBC reports she is in stable condition on Saturday morning.
"The girl was not the intended target," LAPD Lt. Kristin Hagerty said to the L.A. Times.
Instead, police believe the intended target of the shooting was a man riding his bicycle on the street at the same time of the shooting. The shooters misfired, and struck the girl instead of the man on the bicycle.
After neighbors heard multiple shots fired out on the street, they rushed outside to see what had happened. As they came outside, they witnessed a grey sedan speeding away and the yet-to-be named 10-year-old lying on the sidewalk in a bloodied white-dress.
"Me and this other neighbor of mine, he came out, and we were checking to see if she has any bullet penetrations and I was holding her head so she wouldn't be lying down on the concrete," witness John Perez said to KABC. "So as I moved my hand from her head, I realized my whole arm was covered in blood."
Police say the girl was shot by someone from inside a passing vehicle. She was walking with her 11-year-old sister to a corner market, in the neighborhood while she visited her uncle who lives nearby.
Police detained the assumed intended target of the shooting for questioning, attempting to determine whether or not this incident was related to gang violence or not.
