The aunt of the three girls who tragically died in the fire which started in Long Beach last week was shot on Friday night according to the local police department. Another person was wounded in the apparent gang-related shooting that occurred nearby.

The 21-year-old woman was at the scene were the three girls were burned alive and was standing in front of the burned detached garage at 1052 1/2 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. when she was shot in the lower leg, Officer Jackie Bezart, spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department, said in a statement.

Police officials said they do not believe the aunt was targeted.

The police investigation shows that the fire which led to the death of the three sisters was started by a space heater in the back room of the garage.

The dead girls were aged 6 and 10 and the third sister is 7. They were practically trapped inside the exit-less extent of the illegally converted apartment. According to a neighbor, the three sisters were just visiting their relatives and were spending the night after helping with the wrapping of Christmas presents.

The three girls were taken the hospital in critical condition. Two of them died after several hours, while the third succumbed Saturday. The victims' older sister (17) was babysitting her sisters when the garage caught fire. She went to the neighbors, who called the fire department, said Duree. The elder sister was not hurt.

The initial report coming from Long Beach fire Capt. Mike Duree informed that the 500-square-foot garage was legally converted into an apartment, but Long Beach Fire Chief Dave Ellis said later that the building had no permission for residency. The reasons were quite clear and Ellis mentioned them: only one of the two divided room had a window and a door, the structure had neither smoke detectors nor a sprinkler system.

The girls’ exit was blocked because the fire started in the front room which was the only one that had a door and a window.

"They would have had to go directly through the fire to flee," Duree said.