A 6-month-old girl was riddled by pellets from a shotgun and suffered life-threatening injuries early today in Pueblo when two men opened fire on the child’s house from a car.
A total of four people, including the child, were hit by dozens of pellets from the shotgun blast, said Sgt. Eric Bravo of the Pueblo Police Department.
A 17-year-old boy standing on the front porch received the brunt of the blast, being hit by more than 60 pellets, said Bravo. The boy’s name is not being released because of his age.
Anthony Loudy, 20, the father of the 6-month-old girl, was hit by more than 25 pellets as he stood on the porch, said Bravo.
Bravo said the shotgun blast went through the open front door of the home in the 800 block of East Fifth Street, striking the child and Christine Rodriguez, 20, who were sitting on the floor of the living room.
The baby was hit by 14 pellets in the back, neck and the back of her head. She was flown to Colorado Springs to be treated for life-threatening injuries, said the police spokesman. The three others have been treated and released.
The shooting in east Pueblo was believed to be gang-related, said Bravo.
He said two sisters from the same family are dating members of two Latino street gangs, the Dukes and the Aces. Bravo said authorities believe the dating scenario was the motive for the shooting.
The police spokesman said the occupants of the house claimed they did not know the occupants of the car, described as two adult males and one child. The car is described as a gray, two-door early ’90s car.
Loudy and his wife told police that at about 12:30 a.m., the suspects drove up to the house, the occupants exchanged words with the people on the porch and drove away but then made a U-turn and came back.
Words were again exchanged and then gunfire erupted, according to the occupants of the house.
Bravo said the Loudys had just moved into the home and were showing it to some friends. There were seven people at the house, including Loudy’s wife and two of her female friends, said the police spokesman.
Bravo said that within 60 minutes of the incident, someone using a shotgun turned it on two cars 10 and 12 blocks away from the Loudy home.
Officials are investigating a possible connection. Bravo said that shootings occurred in the same neighborhood on the east side of Pueblo.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
