LOS ANGELES â€"  A one-year-old boy was shot dead by a teenage gunman on a bicycle while his father cradled him on a Los Angeles sidewalk.

The father, believed to be in his 20s, was holding his young son on a street near 105th and Hickory streets in Watts when the attacker opened fire about 7:50pm local time Monday.

Police say the boy was taken to hospital, but emergency surgery failed to save him and he later died at 11:00pm, the Los Angeles Times reported. The father also sustained injuries, but is in stable condition.

Authorities are investigating gang rivalry as a possible cause of the shooting. Police said the Watts area has suffered a spate of fatal Latino and African American gang shootings over the last year.

The attacker in the incident was described as black, police said, and the victims were Latino.