2 Slain in Shopping Center Lot : Violence: The Santa Ana men are fatally shot by two gunmen who walked up and opened fire on them as they repaired pickup truck. Police say both victims were documented gang members.

Two friends were shot to death Wednesday afternoon when two men opened fire on them as they were repairing a truck parked at a busy shopping center, authorities said.

Gregorio Serna, 31, and Robert Rodriguez, 26, both of Santa Ana, had just replaced the alternator in a pickup truck about 2:30 p.m. when two men walked up to the pair and fired four to five shots, police and witnesses said.

Bart Tramer, a clerk at a nearby store, said he ran out to the parking lot in the 2300 block of South Bristol Street after he heard the shots and found Serna lying in front of the truck. Rodriguez, who was coughing up blood, was standing near the opened driver’s door with his upper body slumped over the seat, Tramer and police said.

The 19-year-old clerk checked the pulse of the man sprawled on the ground and yelled to passersby to call 911.

The hood of the truck had been lifted and there were greasy rags scattered about, police said. The alternator bought at an auto supply store in the same shopping center was already in place and “all the screws tightened,” Santa Ana police Sgt. Robert Clark said.

“It looks like they were probably finishing up and getting ready to go,” he said.

Several witnesses who were working nearby told police they saw two young men running from the scene across the parking lot after the shooting.

Police said both Rodriguez and Serna were shot in the upper torso. Both later died of their injuries at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Dozens of family members and friends gathered at the hospital Wednesday evening.

Police said both victims had been documented as Santa Ana gang members.

But Serna’s family disputed that. The man they called Goyo was the father of a 10-month-old child he doted on, and was always available to his family when they needed him, giving the bulk of his paychecks to his parents, said his sister, 18-year-old Lorena Serna.

“All he cared about was his family,” she said.

Goyo Serna, the fourth of 11 children, lived with his parents, two sisters, his girlfriend and their baby. He encouraged his sister to go to college and was always supportive, Lorena Serna said.

“He made me feel like I was going to be somebody,” she said. “He was the only one who did that.”

Serna and Rodriguez were longtime friends, Serna’s sister said, and the men were working to fix Serna’s truck when the shooting occurred.