An Amber Alert was issued Saturday for a 5-year-old Temecula girl, after her mother was shot and the child kidnapped by the girl's father, a sheriff's investigator said.

Deputies in the southwest Riverside County city of Temecula are looking for Jose De Jesus Cardona, 37, of Los Angeles. He is suspected of shooting a woman, and taking their daughter, Kaylee Jocelyn Cardona, from her home at 4:23 a.m. Saturday, sheriff's investigator Matt Diaz said.

De Jesus Cardona may be driving a dark blue 1995 Ford Lincoln Continental with red patches from body work, bearing California license plate number 6-DWP-853, according to Diaz.

Freeway signs and broadcast stations in Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties have been alerting the public to look for the car since just after 8 a.m. San Diego County signs have also been activated, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The girl's mother, Marta De Ochoa, 43, was in surgery at 8 a.m. at an undisclosed hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso, Diaz said. Her condition was not known.

The alleged shooting and abduction occurred at 43113 Corte Cabrera, Diaz said. The neighborhood is southeast of Ronald Reagan Sports Park at the intersection of Margarita Road and Pauba Road, about 70 miles north of downtown San Diego.