23-month-old girl shot in Oakland by stray bullet

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OAKLAND (KTVU & BCN) -- A 23-month-old girl was in stable condition Thursday after she was shot while sitting in a car with her mother by a stray bullet in East Oakland, police said.

The shooting was reported around noon in the 6600 block of Outlook Avenue, near 66th Avenue, police said.

The girl was driven to Highland Hospital and then transferred to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital for treatment. Officials said the girl is expected to survive. 

Oakland police Assistant Chief David Downing, still the highest-ranking officer in the department, met with the child's mother and family at the hospital, according to police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson.

"Anytime a child is shot, that is of paramount concern," Watson said. 

The toddler was with her mother in a car when she was shot, Watson said.

Watson said multiple rounds were fired at the vehicle.

KTVU spoke to the mother who said the car was parked at the time of the shooting. The mother said she pulled the child forward and saw blood coming from the little girl's back. The mother then asked her 7-year-old daughter, who was also in the car, to apply pressure to her sister's wound until they reached Highland Hospital. 

The emergency room area  turned into a crime scene as police taped off the car. The girl was at the facility less than an hour before being transferred to UCSF Benioff. 

"This is a very traumatic thing for the mother, the family and the community," Watson said, adding that investigators were trying to determine if the car was moving.

Watson said investigators are looking into the possibility that the shooting was somehow connected to a homicide a day ago on the other side of the city. In that shooting, a man was fatally shot in the 900 block of 16th Street in West Oakland around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. That shooting marked the city of Oakland's first homicide of the new year.

Joes Rojas, a neighborhood resident, said he heard five or six gunshots, heard screaming, then the “vroom” of a car taking off. 

"It's a huge problem. Don't know what the answer is. So many people own guns around here," said Claire Stanley, a neighborhood resident. 

Police this afternoon were canvassing the neighborhood, which is primarily residential, to see if anyone saw or heard anything or has surveillance footage that might help the case, Watson said.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help pay for the little girl's hospital expenses.