Bullet comes through window, killing L.A. mom as she sleeps; her baby faces uncertain future

A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot through the window of her South Los Angeles home in the early hours of Sunday morning, authorities said. The sudden killing has left her 1-year-old baby with an uncertain future, according to the woman’s family.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded at 3:35 a.m. to a call about a shooting in the 400 block of 103rd Street in the Vermont Vista neighborhood, according to a department spokesperson. Inside a residence, they found a 20-year-old woman dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

The L.A. County medical examiner identified the victim as Maria Barrios Ventura, 20, and classified her manner of death as a homicide.

A witness told responding officers that someone fired a shot from the street that went through the woman’s window, according to the LAPD spokesperson.

The victim’s boyfriend, Omar Misael, told NBC4 that they were sleeping in bed with their 1-year-old baby when a bullet came through the window and hit Barrios Ventura.

“A stray bullet passed through here and struck my partner, and another seven shots were fired and hit around here,” he said in Spanish, pointing to bullet holes on the exterior of the house. “She died about 10 minutes later.”

The killing is under investigation by South Bureau homicide detectives, the spokesperson said. At this time there is no information available on any suspects, and it is unknown if she was the intended target of the shooting.

A statement on GoFundMe said that the sudden killing devastated her family.

“The funds raised through this campaign will go directly toward funeral expenses, send her back to her family in Guatemala and to support her 1-year-old daughter, who now faces an uncertain future without her mother,” the statement read. “With all of her family living in Guatemala, there is little local support available, and we are doing everything we can to provide for her daughter’s needs during this difficult time.”

The family described Barrios Ventura as a loving mother and said her absence was deeply felt by all who knew her.