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Anaheim police arrest two men in shooting death of 9-year-old girl

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Anaheim police have arrested two men and charged them with the death of a 9-year-old girl who was shot and killed while playing outside of her home on Wednesday.

Ricardo Cruz, a 19-year-old Buena Park resident, and Alfredo Miguel Aquino, 20, of Anaheim, were both captured late Friday night and charged with murder in the death of Ximena Meza, according to a Police Department press release.

Both men are being held at the city lockup in on $1-million bail, and Anaheim police have scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference near the block where the young girl was killed, according to the release.

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Ximena and her sisters were playing when a gunman got out of a white car and fired several rounds at a group of men standing near the young girls around 7:15 p.m. in the 2300 block of West Greenacre Avenue near the Brookhurst Community Park, police said.

Ximena was struck once in the chest, police said, and died less than an hour later at UC Irvine Medical Center.

Anaheim police described the shooting as “gang-motivated,” and a police spokesman previously said a gang in the neighborhood “claims” the area.

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