She was shot in home around dining room table
Police have arrested and charged three persons who they believe were the gunmen who endangered the lives of many people when they opened fire in the La Croix Boulevard area of the city on Thursday, August 30, 2012, which resulted in Desiree Aranda, 14, being shot in her home as she sat around their table eating with her aunt and sister.
Today, Monday, Adrian Avaloy-Alvarez, 18, a resident of #82 Linda Vista Street, along with two minors, ages 16 and 14, were brought before Magistrate Aretha Ford, to answer a “conspiracy to commit murder” charge.
This afternoon, the 16-year-old minor was taken over to the Family Court, where he was slapped with two counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault, dangerous harm and deadly means of harm, all stemming from the August 30 incident.
No pleas were taken from them and they were remanded to prison until their next court appearance on October 10, 2012.
Police believe that they are the youths who were behind the shooting on August 30, which resulted in Desiree Aranda, 14, a high school student, suffering from a gunshot wound in the right lower side of her back. She was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where she was treated for injury and released on Friday, August 31, 2012.
Police said that around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 30, three men on separate bicycles rode up at the corner of Park Street and La Croix Boulevard, and one of them fired four shots in the direction of a couple who were in the area. All the bullets missed the two persons, but one bullet went through the wall of Desiree Aranda’s house, located on Cumberbatch Street, and struck the girl.
The aunt who was at home with Aranda and her sister said that they were around the table eating when they heard around four gunshots; she heard the girl cry out and then fall to the floor.
They raised the alarm that the girl has been shot, and immediately called the ambulance, which came along with the police. The emergency technicians in the ambulance conducted initial treatment to help her, after which she was rushed to the KHMH. The police, meanwhile, conducted an area search to locate the shooters, and processed the scene. The motive of the shooting in the area is not yet known.
Desiree Aranda now joins the growing list of minors who have been shot in their homes by stray bullets, some of whom are Eyanie Nunez, 10, Carline Pinto, 11, and her brother Tyrone, 18.