3-Year-Old Who Was Shot, Flung From Car Dies; Mother’s Condition Critical

A 3-year-old North Hollywood girl who, along with her mother, was shot and thrown out of a moving car onto a North Hollywood street died Thursday, Los Angeles police said.

Police are focusing their investigation on a possible suspect in the killing of the child, Cathy Velasco, and the attempted murder of the child’s mother, Martha Garcia, 27, Police Lt. Ron La Rue said. He refused to elaborate. La Rue said police do not know the motive for the shooting.

The child, who was shot twice, once in the forehead, died at 3 p.m. at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles.

Garcia, whom police at first had identified as Martha Velasco, remained in very critical condition Thursday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank with gunshot wounds in the neck and chest, La Rue said.

The mother and daughter were found in the street shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday in the 7200 block of Case Avenue. Several Case Avenue residents told police that they saw a car race down the street and stop suddenly; then a woman and child were shoved into the middle of the roadway. None of the residents reported hearing gunshots.

La Rue said Garcia’s husband, Francisco Velasco, who had been sought for questioning in the shooting, has been located and is not a suspect in the case.