Two charged with attempted murder in allegedly gang-related Costa Mesa shooting

Two men have been charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting Friday connected to a memorial for a man stabbed to death in Costa Mesa earlier the same week, court records show.

Erik Garcilazo, 19, was charged with five counts apiece of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of unlawful entry of a noncommercial dwelling and resisting arrest. He also faces sentencing enhancements for firing a gun and committing an offense while out of custody on another case and the personal use of a gun.

Elmer Suarez-Morales, 20, was charged with five felony counts apiece of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

Both men are residents of Costa Mesa.

Officers responded at about 12:25 a.m. Friday to gunshots heard in the 1700 block of Placentia Avenue, where they located evidence of a shooting but no victims or witnesses, the Costa Mesa Police Department reported.

The department was notified less than an hour later by a hospital that a male patient was seeking emergency medical treatment for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Mourners pay tribute to a man killed June 11 in a stabbing outside a business on Costa Mesa’s Placentia Avenue. The memorial was the scene of a possibly gang-related shooting Friday.

(Andrew Turner)

“The initial investigation connected this shooting to the memorial on Placentia Avenue for the deceased victim from the June 11 case,” police said in a statement.

Officers had responded to a knife attack in the same block of Placentia Avenue, near 17th Street, at about 11 p.m. Tuesday. That victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and two suspects, Israel Antonio Valencia, 25, and Christopher Mathew Pena, 18, were arrested June 12, according to Roxi Fyad of the CMPD.

While investigating the fatal stabbing, police found a 19-year-old man who had been attacked earlier at Placentia Avenue and Shalimar Drive. The second victim, who was taken to a hospital by family members, was believed to have been attacked by the same suspect, and authorities said they suspect the attacks were gang-related.

Food, flowers and tributes for a 22-year-old Costa Mesa man killed in a June 11 stabbing line a wall on the 1700 block of Placentia Avenue.

(Andrew Turner)

Officers located Suarez-Morales on Friday afternoon, who was pulled over in a vehicle and arrested without incident.

Garcilazo was located around 4:30 p.m. Friday in the 2100 block of Pomona Avenue. Police said Garcilazo evaded officers and fled, resulting in a perimeter involving SWAT, a drone team and a K9 unit, creating traffic delays on Pomona Avenue between Victoria Street and Wilson Street.

About half an hour later, officers found Garcilazo and arrested him.

A memorial outside a liquor store on Costa Mesa’s Placentia Avenue, honoring a 22-year-old man killed in a June 11 stabbing, was the scene of a shooting Friday.

(Andrew Turner)

Police did not elaborate on the suspected connection between the shooting and the memorial. Anyone with information on the stabbings or shooting was asked to call Costa Mesa police at (714) 754-5097.