He shot and wounded Cesar Avila, a glass worker, erroneously believing that he was a member of a rival gang. He then aimed his gun at Kaitlyn and shot her once in the chest, police said.

"This wasn't an accident or case of her getting caught in the fire," Beck said. "He intended to kill her. This was callous killing. It is beyond even what gangsters consider usual."

L.A. Police Say Killing of 3-Year-Old in Gang Attack Was Intentional
Kaitlyn Avila, 3, was shot at point-blank range after her father was wounded in the gang-related attack in Baldwin Village, police say.
By Richard Winton and Erika Hayasaki
Times Staff Writers
October 10, 2006

A 3-year-old girl, fatally shot as her family arrived home after a Sunday afternoon trip to McDonalds, was intentionally targeted by a teenage gang member who fired at point-blank range, police said Monday.

The announcement, which came as detectives sought the public's help in finding the killer, prompted new anxiety in the Southwest Los Angeles neighborhood of Baldwin Village, which has struggled with gang violence for decades.

Though police said they don't know the motive for the girl's slaying, some parents expressed fear that the Oct. 1 shooting was a twisted gang initiation gone tragically wrong.

A joint task force of the Los Angeles Police Department and FBI, which has been investigating Kaitlyn Avila's death, arrested one suspect. But Jonathan Banks, the 17-year-old suspected of pulling the trigger, is still being sought.