Passenger was the intended target in shooting that struck a 3-year-old girl in Santa Ana

Investigators in Santa Ana are searching for a man who fired several shots toward a car where one of those bullets hit a 3-year-old girl who was riding in the backseat.

The girl is in critical but now stable condition, and she is expected to survive her injuries. She was shot once in the back. Police say the man who fired the shots was aiming for the mother's boyfriend.

Hector Velasquez is one of many neighbors, still in shock about the shooting that injured a 3-year-old girl last night.

“We're not secure no more if those kinds of things are happening,” Velasquez said. 

He's talking about the shooting just around 8 p.m. last night on the corner of Spurgeon and 15th where a man shot at least two rounds into a Nissan Altima. 

Sitting in the backseat were two young girls. Police say one of the bullets went through the 3-year-old's carseat and struck her in the back.

“I can't even think about what the mom is going through right now,” said Rosa Salinas.

Police say the girl's mom, who was driving, didn't realize they had been shot at until a few minutes later.

They stopped at a nearby area and realized the child was shot. That’s when they went to the hospital, according to officer Natalie Garcia with the Santa Ana Police Department.

That's when the mother drove to Children's Hospital of Orange County, two miles away.

Police say the woman's boyfriend, who is not the father of either child, was in the passenger seat, and that he was the intended target.

“Male passenger has a criminal record of being a gang member,” Garcia said. 

The search now on for the person who fired into the family's car, shooting an innocent child.

“It’s very sad, it's very unfortunate, an innocent shot shouldn't happen. I hope they catch the guy,” said Mack Kadel, who lives nearby.