Shot Fired at Cousin in Fracas Outside Home : Child Killed by Stray Bullet Mourned

Wilprido Ferro stood alone on the porch of a Highland Park home Thursday afternoon, staring at the falling rain, while, in the living room, about 20 relatives and family friends silently mourned the death of 11-year-old Juventia Uriarte.

Ferro, 20, knew that the bullet that killed his young cousin had been intended for him.

The girl was fatally wounded Wednesday night in the same home as she looked out her window at a confrontation on the street involving Ferro, his brother, and four unidentified men.

According to Ferro, when he and his brother, Florentino, 21, arrived at the house in the 200 block of South 54th Street after finishing their shifts at a fast-food restaurant, the four men were waiting in a parked car.

They ganged up on Florentino and started beating him, Wilprido said, so he jumped into the fray. When they noticed that two of the assailants were carrying handguns, he said, the brothers ran for cover. As they neared the house, gunfire erupted.

The one bullet fired in the direction of the house made a tiny hole in Juventia’s window and found her throat. The girl was rushed to County-USC Medical Center, but efforts to save her proved futile and she was pronounced dead at 10:45 a.m.

“They’re just punks . . . vatos, “ was all Wilprido would say of the assailants.

“Problems,” muttered an otherwise tight-lipped Florentino, when asked the reason why the assailants were waiting for them. “Just problems. . . .”

One neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, claimed the shooting was drug-related. Others said it was gang-related.

Los Angeles police would not comment, or release further details of the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.

Detective Sam Catalsamo, who is in charge of the case, would only say that four men are being sought.

While the family mourned in private, Wilprido stood outside, petrified.

Nervously, Florentino darted in and out of the yellow, wood-frame house, carefully avoiding a photographer and a TV cameraman waiting outside.

Parked across the street was the old Ford Capri that had brought the brothers home shortly before the shooting.

The car was pocked with bullet holes and the rain poured in through its shattered windows, soaking the interior. But no one tried to cover it.