Three Los Angeles Gang Members Arrested in Shooting of 9-Year-Old Girl

According to the Los Angeles Police Department news release, three gang members have been arrested for the alleged shooting of a 9-year-old girl that happened on September 11.

Carlos Morales, 19, Raymundo Villareal, 24, and a 14-year-old whose name could not be released due to being a minor, have been arrested in the alleged shooting of Adriana Varguez. Adriana had been sitting in her bedroom at her home located at 1400 block of Cochran Avenue, when one of the suspect's approached the victim's home. The other two suspects were outside waiting inside of a vehicle.

According to police, the suspect walked down through an alley and fired one round at two males who had been standing in front of the home. The bullet missed the two men and traveled through the exterior wall of the home and struck Adriana in the arm while she was sitting on her bed doing her homework. Luckily the nine year-old was taken to the local hospital where she was treated and released.

Once officers arrived on the scene, those who has witnessed the incident gave detailed information and police were able to identify all three suspects. The three have been arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The juvenile who is assumed to be the one who fired the shot, is being held without bail. Morales and Vilareal are being held on $50,000 bail.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the alleged shooting appears to be gang related, and is assumed to be a retaliation effort for a shooting that had occurred on June 27th.

The Los Angeles Police Department has verified that in the City of Los Angeles alone there are 23,000 violent gang crimes in the past five years. Out of the 23,000 crimes, 784 of them were homicides, 12,000 were felony assaults, 10,000 were robberies and less than 500 were rape. It is known that at this time there are more than 250 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles. According to the LAPD many of these gangs that are in existence have been around for over 50 years. Unfortunately for the City of Los Angeles and those who have to deal with the gangs, the total amount of gang members are in an excess of nearly 26,000 people.