Shooter ‘pumped four rounds’ into 10-year-old girl, official says

Two gunmen who shot into a home in Sacramento County, killing a 10-year-old girl, knew exactly who they were hitting when they pulled the trigger, police said Tuesday.

“The shooter outside the window was literally two or three feet away, maximum, from this girl,” said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Ramos. “And pumped four rounds in a very tight group.”

Elvira Campos was watching TV with her parents Saturday about 10:30 p.m. in the family’s North Highlands home, about 11 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, when she was killed, police said.

“Sometimes when you emphasize that you have truly innocent victims, this can motivate someone to step forward and say something,” Ramos said. “This was not a drive-by. This was one guy with a shotgun, one with a handgun, firing 13 rounds directly into the home.”

Detectives are looking into whether the slaying is linked to the April 20 shooting of a 10-year-old about a mile away. In that incident, a black vehicle drove up to a home where a family was gathering, and one of the passengers said something, then began firing.

They are also talking with Elvira’s 20-year-old brother, who officials say may have gang ties but was not home at the time of the shooting.

“He has not been forthcoming about any beefs or rivalries he’s had with anyone,” Ramos told the Sacramento Bee. The brother does not have a criminal record, Ramos told the newspaper.

Police said they’ve talked to several witnesses – including one who reportedly saw the shooting – and are following up on a number of leads, though none have proved solid yet.

Elvira was sitting in a chair in the living room, leaning to the side with one leg slung over the other arm rest and her back to the window when she was killed, Ramos said. The curtains were pulled back and the ambient light from the TV gave the shooter at the window a clear view, Ramos said.

Elvira’s mother was sitting beside her and was shot in the arm. Her father was walking into the room and was hit in the arm and leg, Ramos said. Both survived. The parents’ 14-year-old son was playing on a computer in a backroom and was uninjured.

“In my day, there used to be some standards,” Larry Ellis, a neighbor of the Campos family told the Bee. “You didn’t go mess with someone’s family.”

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joseph.serna@latimes.com

@josephserna