2 Unarmed Security Guards Shot to Death : Violence: One is gunned down in the lobby of an Orange theater, the other in a Garden Grove parking lot.

Two unarmed security guards were shot to death within hours of each other Sunday night and early Monday morning, one in the lobby of a movie house in Orange and the other in the parking lot of a bar in Garden Grove.

Dagoberto Carrero of Orange, a 23-year-old former Marine and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, died in a barrage of gunfire about 11 p.m. Sunday as he stood at his post inside the lobby of the Century City Centre Theatre near The City Shopping Center, police said. Police are looking for six teen-agers who earlier in the day had threatened him when he asked them to clear out of the theater after a movie.

Less than two hours later, Rupert Morales, 19, of Santa Ana was shot in the parking lot of Nick’s Hide Away. Witnesses said Morales was attempting to direct a car to a parking space when someone in the car fired two shots into his chest.

Authorities said there did not appear to be any connection between the shootings.

Both guards were fathers of baby daughters and were praised by employers and relatives for their dedication to their families and their jobs.

“He never had any money; he always put practically his whole check into supporting other people,” said Morales’ employer, James Nowlin, director of security at Nick’s Hide Away. “That’s the real bad thing about this. It’s left a lot of people hurt.”

In Orange on Monday afternoon, shards of glass had been swept away at the movie theater where Carrero died by the time customers lined up to buy matinee tickets. A broken window was boarded up, and shattered doors had been replaced.

The previous night, about an hour before closing, one or more persons fired into the theater from an outdoor walkway, police said. Carrero, who was stationed at a podium facing the front window, tried to seek cover after he was shot in the face, police said. But as he moved, he was shot a second time in the back.

The gunfire shattered two sets of glass doors and put a hole in the glass window of the ticket counter. With only one film still showing, the snack bar was closed and the lobby was empty of customers. An assistant manager heard the gunfire from the theater office and called paramedics.

Carrero was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Police are seeking a group of six teen-agers--three girls and three boys--who a witness said had threatened Carrero when he asked them to leave the theater so that a cleaning crew could straighten up at 7:15 p.m. after a showing of the movie “Addams Family Values.”

“Carrero asked them to leave so the theater could be cleaned thoroughly, and they refused,” said Lt. Timm Browne, Orange police spokesman. “He asked again and they became hostile and started using foul language.” Browne said Carrero remained calm and chose to walk away. The teen-agers left the theater about 15 minutes later, he said.

Bill Bancroft, owner of Patrol One, the security guard company which employed Carrero, said the firm is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Carrero’s slayer. He described Carrero as “an outstanding officer” who was “cool, collected, non-combative and people-oriented.”

Carrero leaves a wife, Nicole, to whom he had been married about 18 months, and 9-month-old daughter, Jerelyn. Bancroft said Carrero’s wife learned of his death when she went to the theater at 2:30 a.m. Monday, wondering why her husband, who had been scheduled to go off duty at midnight, had not returned home.

Carrero had worked as a security guard with Patrol One for seven months, Bancroft said, after completing a four-year tour with the Marines.

Carrero was planning to leave security work in a few days and go to Texas to train for five months to become a member of the Air National Guard, Bancroft and family members said.

Matt Bowen, Carrero’s brother-in-law, said Carrero, whom his family called “Drago,” was a highly decorated Marine who served in Operation Desert Storm.

“He obviously didn’t deserve to die,” Bowen said. “He was extremely considerate, extremely affectionate to his family. . . . He is the kind of guy if he had to dig ditches to make a living or pick up trash . . . whatever it took, he would do that to provide for his family.” He said Carrero was saving to pay for a college education.

Bancroft said Carrero, an immigrant from Puerto Rico, “was a young guy on his way to fulfilling the American dream when he was shot.”

Garden Grove police, meanwhile, are searching for a motive and suspects in the killing of Morales at Nick’s Hide Away, 8284 Garden Grove Blvd. Officials at the club said Morales was trying to direct a car into a parking space when he was shot twice in the chest by someone in the car, which was described as a dark, full-sized model. He was taken to UCI Medical Center, where he died.

Larry Fees, owner of the bar, said the only incident earlier in the evening had involved an underage male who was turned away at the front door and then jumped a back fence, trying to sneak in. Morales, who was known as Roberto, stopped the young man, Fees said. The owner described the bar’s clientele as mostly male members of the gay community.

“The other security guard told me Roberto showed this kid out but it wasn’t a big deal,” he said.

Just before he was shot, Morales apparently called to a second guard, who was near the building’s front door, and asked him to come over to look at something, Fees said. The second guard was walking toward him when he heard three shots and ran back inside to call police, the owner said.

Fees said he has owned the club for three years and never had a serious incident there before.

“Everybody liked this guy,” said Nowlin, the bar’s security director. “Outside the bar, he was basically acting like a concierge at a fancy hotel. He showed people where to park and tried to help them out.”

Morales had a 4-month-old daughter, Karen, and supported the baby and her mother, Noellia Salas, 23, but did not live with them. He shared a house in Santa Ana with his brother and several others and also sent money to his family in Mexico, the security director said.

Nowlin said Morales, aware of the dangers of his job, had hoped to purchase a bulletproof vest last month but did not do so, apparently because he had some unexpected expenses and could not afford it.

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.