GUILTY CA - Desiree Macias, 7, shot to death in Palmdale, 4 Sept 2013

A 7-year-old girl riding in the back seat of her family's car was struck in the head by gunfire from another vehicle after a dispute at a Palmdale fuel station, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Palmdale Station.

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A shooting happened at about 12:45 a.m. near 57th Street East and East Avenue S. before a second round of gunfire near Essex Drive and Regency Place. Rounds may have been exchanged from car-to-car, officials said.

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Sheriff's deputies arrested three men, who have not been identified. They are being held in Palmdale. Authorities say they have recovered the gun used in the shooting.

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Desiree Macias was shot in the head early Wednesday morning, and she is on life support. Her mom took a photo of Desiree in the hospital. Desiree's mother is asking for prayers for the little girl.

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"Tomorrow if her blood pressure is ok, it's even, they're going to study her brain to see if it's at least functioning a little bit… It's hard, just devastating, it's a desperate situation," said Rosa Galvin, Desiree's aunt.

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Three men who were arrested in connection with a car-to-car shooting in the Antelope Valley that left a 7-year-old girl on life support were identified by authorities on Thursday.

Jesus Peralta, 22, and Carlos Peralta, 19, of Palmdale, and Eduardo Diaz of Little Rock were arrested and booked at Palmdale Sheriff’s Station for attempted murder, according to Sheriff’s homicide detectives.

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Jesus Alberto Peralta, 24, received 125 years to life in state prison and Carlos Peralta, 21, was sentenced to 46-years-to-life in state prison in the murder of Desirae Macias, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Both were found guilty on June 23 of one count each of first-degree murder and shooting at an occupied motor vehicle...

On Sept. 4, 2013, the Peralta brothers confronted Macias’ mother’s boyfriend at a Palmdale gas station, issuing a “gang challenge,” according to the DA’s office. After a brief confrontation, the boyfriend left the scene with his girlfriend and her two children. The brothers followed the foursome, firing several rounds into the family’s vehicle, the DA’s office said.

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In a March 13 ruling, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that the girl’s murder and the attempted murders of three other people in the car with her were willful, deliberate and premeditated.

The appellate court justices noted that the defendants knew there were other people in the vehicle and chose to pursue the car into a residential neighborhood after a confrontation with one of the car’s passengers at a Palmdale gas station shortly after midnight.

“All of this evidence supports the jury’s finding that defendants reflected before and during the undertaking of their crimes,” the appellate court justices wrote, noting that the two knew that their target victim was not the only person in the vehicle.

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