Gunmen Hold Family, Kill Woman, Fetus

Huntington Park police were trying Tuesday to track down a pair of gunmen who terrorized a family for hours Monday before killing a pregnant woman and her fetus and slashing her mother with a knife.

The woman was killed while trying to wrest the gun away from one of the men and the mother was slashed when she went to the aid of her daughter, police said.

Police appealed to the public for help in finding the two gunmen. The city of Huntington Park has posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction, Detective Tom Weselis said.

Authorities said the terror began about 8 p.m. Monday when two men, believed to be in their late teens, burst into a condominium shared by a man and his wife, the couple’s 26-year-old son, their 24-year-old pregnant daughter, her husband and their infant son. The condominium is in a recently redeveloped area in the 6000 block of Oak Street.

Police withheld names of the victims until all family members could be notified.

Weselis said the two men demanded that the family members hand over all of their money, threatening repeatedly to kill them if they did not comply.

One of the gunmen also went upstairs and ransacked the house in search of valuables while the other ordered the older couple’s son to tie up his mother, father and brother-in-law, Weselis said.

“The ransacking of the residence continued, and the family was terrorized and threatened with death for more than 2 1/2 hours,” Weselis said. “The place was totally ransacked, like somebody dropped a bomb inside of it.”

After the son tied up the family members, Weselis said, the gunmen ordered him to place televisions, a videocassette recorder and other valuables by the door.

There was a struggle when one of the gunmen tried to take the pregnant woman into another room, police said.

“The mother, whose hands were bound, went to her daughter’s aid and pushed the gunman,” Weselis said. “The suspect then threw the pregnant woman to the ground and shot her.”

He then slashed the mother across the head with a knife, police said. The assailant was punched by her son, who then fled to a neighbor’s house for help.

Two more shots were fired inside the home before the gunmen fled, but no one else was hit.

Paramedics found the woman dead, and efforts to save her 8-month-old fetus were unsuccessful.

The mother was treated at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood for minor cuts.

Weselis said investigators have uncovered no evidence that the attack was motivated by anything other than robbery.