Santa Ana Man Dies in Shooting Following Barroom Argument

A 32-year-old Santa Ana man died after he was shot following a barroom argument in Santa Ana, authorities said Sunday.

The shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the Stagecoach bar in the 1200 block of East Pomona Street, Police Sgt. Jim McDaniel said.

A bartender called police after customers said they had heard two gunshots from the parking lot. But by the time officers arrived, McDaniel said, both the victim and suspect had fled.

About two hours later, a driver several blocks from the bar spotted what looked like a body in the road. When officers responded, they found the body of Jesus Mercado with a gunshot wound lying in the 500 block of East Wilshire Avenue, McDaniel said.

“At first we thought he had been hit by a car,” McDaniel said. “But then we discovered he had been shot. He fit the description of the victim at the bar.”

Police say they have no suspects in the shooting but are continuing to investigate.

Waitresses and customers of the bar, which caters to Latino immigrant workers, said they had seen the victim and gunman sitting in a group with four other friends just before the shooting. A man who did not want to be identified said that all six were drinking but that “they were tranquil. They were not causing any problems.”

The man, who identified himself as an immigrant from the Mexican state of Guerrero, said trouble flared when one of the men punched another in the group. The group then went outside, he said.

John Gonzalez, a security guard for the bar, said he heard gunshots from the front parking lot moments later. Gonzales said he ordered everyone in the bar, which was crowded at the time, to stay inside while he stood at the open doorway with a drawn revolver. Three waitresses on duty all ran into a back room and called police.

Customers and employees said the men were strangers in the Stagecoach, which draws mostly regulars.

Sunday afternoon, for example, the bar was packed with customers who mostly knew one another and were laughing and joking as they shot pool and drank beer.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” Gonzalez said. “And everybody minds their own business.”

Although gunshots are not an uncommon sound in the light-industrial neighborhood, residents and workers said they usually come from people who are partying firing into the air. This was the first incident of shooting violence they could remember.

“The neighborhood is real quiet,” said Araceli Millan, a waitress at El Tapatio restaurant across the street from the bar. “There is not much trouble.”

Another waitress there, Rosario Beltran, said the shooting had left her badly shaken--even though she had gotten off work at 10 p.m. Saturday and was not around to see it.

“I am scared because I work at night,” Beltran said. “But I need the work. From now on, I will park my car in the back.”