Woman Shot and Critically Injured While Watching Gang Fight

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, April 30, 2000

"Woman Shot and Critically Injured While Watching Gang Fight"

Panorama City – On Saturday, April 29, 2000, at approximately 11:50 PM, Devonshire Area patrol officers responded to a report of shots fired on the 8400 block of Willis Avenue, in Panorama City. Upon their arrival, witnesses informed the officers that a group of males were congregated in front of an apartment, talking and listening to music when a second group of four Hispanic males, ages 19 to 25 and dressed in gang attire, approached on foot and issued a gang-motivated verbal challenge. Members of the victim group denied having any gang affiliation, but the four Hispanic males were not dissuaded and began a physical fight with them. As the victim group attempted to disperse the area, members of the suspect group began shooting rounds from an unknown caliber handgun.

According to witnesses, Maria Quijada, a female Hispanic approximately 45 years old, was standing in the doorway to her apartment watching the altercation between the two groups of males when she was struck by gunfire.

Following the shooting, the four male Hispanic suspects of the aggressor group fled both on foot and in a compact vehicle they stole from a member of the victim group. The stolen vehicle is a gray, 1983 Datsun 280ZX. The license plate is unknown at this time.

The victim, Maria Quijada, was immediately transported to a local hospital where she remains in critical condition following surgery for her gunshot wounds. The attack appears to have been unprovoked and gang-related. Devonshire Homicide Detectives are handling the investigation.

For further information contact Media Relations at 213-485-3586.

For Release 8:00 am PDT
May 1, 2000