Good Samaritans tried to stop graffiti vandals and were shot. Now, gunman convicted

A gang member was convicted of murder and attempted murder Thursday for the shootings of two people who confronted a pair of graffiti vandals in an unincorporated area near Anaheim.

David Steven Ortega, 36, of Chino, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Jurors, who deliberated for about two days, also found true sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a gun, a gang member’s vicarious discharge of a gun causing great bodily injury, attempted premeditated murder and gang activity.

Jurors, however, could not reach verdicts in the case against co-defendant Edgar Ramirez, who is charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder, leading Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King to declare a mistrial on those counts.

Ortega was convicted of killing 51-year-old David Bruce Douglas and wounding John Anderson, then 39, on July 19, 2015, at Poona Drive and Lullaby Lane.

Douglas and Anderson, who lived nearby, were chatting in Douglas’ driveway about 9:45 p.m. after returning from a camping trip when they saw two men spray-painting gang graffiti on property on the block, Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Alex said.

“These two victims tried to stop gang graffiti in their neighborhood and they paid dearly, one with his life and another nearly so,” Alex said during trial.

When the two, along with another neighbor, asked the vandals what they were doing, the two men walked away, Alex said. Douglas and Anderson followed them, with Douglas at some point getting into his SUV, Alex said.

One of the vandals ducked into a bush and emerged with a bandana masking his face, the prosecutor said. Anderson got into a loud argument with the man while the other man quickly left the scene.

Douglas rolled up in his SUV, and Anderson jumped in as the masked man, who prosecutors said was Ortega, pulled a gun and approached the vehicle, opening fire while the other man blocked the path of the SUV. Anderson was shot three times, including in the head, Alex said, and Douglas suffered a gunshot wound through the throat.

Ortega’s attorney, Ed Welbourn, insisted during the trial that there was no firm evidence linking his client to the shooting, noting that a cellphone investigators used to place Ortega at the scene “wasn’t even in his name.”

Ramirez’s attorney, Jacob DeGrave, said his client “wasn’t even there. He is innocent.”