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SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 20-year-old man was charged Monday with shooting into a car in Santa Ana, critically injuring a 3-year-old girl.
Angel Castillo was charged with two counts of attempted murder and firing a gun at an occupied car, all felonies. He also faces sentencing enhancements for attempted premeditated murder, firing a gun causing great bodily injury, gang activity, and causing great bodily injury on a child younger than 5.
According to the criminal complaint, he is accused of attempting to kill the driver and a passenger.
Castillo, who was being held without bail, was booked into the Orange County Jail on Friday and was scheduled to be arraigned Monday, but the hearing was later rescheduled for March 20.
The shooting occurred about 8 p.m. Feb. 25 around 15th and Spurgeon streets, according to Santa Ana Police Department Officer Natalie Garcia.
According to police, two bullets struck the white Nissan Altima, and one of them "traveled through the trunk, into the passenger compartment," striking the 3-year-old girl. A 4-year-old girl was also in the backseat but was uninjured, police said.
Investigators found three shell casings at the scene, Garcia said.
The injured girl's mother, who was driving the car, did not immediately realize the girl had been shot, but moments later when it appeared she was in distress, the mother drove to Children's Hospital of Orange County, where the girl underwent surgery. Garcia said she is expected to survive.
The family, who lives in Santa Ana, was visiting other relatives at the time, Garcia said.
Santa Ana police said investigators "believe the adult male passenger was the intended target, and the shooting was gang-related."
Garcia said the man in the car is the boyfriend of the girls' mother.
According to Garcia, the gunman is believed to have been on foot and fired at the moving vehicle.