Jasmine Sanders, 8

Jasmine Sanders, 8, a black child, was fatally shot in the chest at 249 E. 76th St. in South-Central Los Angeles about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 23.

According to witnesses, Jasmine was playing outside with her little brother and other children behind an iron gate.

Witnesses told police that two black youths approached a group of male youths sitting on a porch behind a stairway. One of them, dressed in a white shirt and dark pants, fired a round at the group, but missed and struck Jasmine in the chest instead.

Witnesses said the force of the shot pushed Jasmine back against the stairs. Her mother came down and picked her up, then carried her upstairs into their apartment, where she and a neighbor applied pressure  on her chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding, witnesses said.

Jasmine was taken by ambulance to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Residents at the apartment building said the incident marked the fifth shooting in the last week. They pointed out bullets from recent shootings still lodged in the gate.  Around the corner from the apartment is John C. Fremont High School and a block away is the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Division.

The next morning, Jasmine's mother, Shadonna Kinney, 28, returned to the apartment building to pick up a few belongings. She addressed the shooters through news cameras that were stationed outside of the building.

"You senseless guys," she said.  "Do the right thing; come forward, come forward, come forward."

Residents said the family had been living at the apartment for three weeks and that Jasmine had two brothers. Kinney said her daughter was enrolled at 75th Street Elementary School.

"She didn't deserve this," she said. "Somebody knows something."

Community activists have planned a vigil at the apartment building at 7 p.m. tonight.

-- Ruben Vives

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