Broad daylight shooting a macabre scene

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A spine-chilling scene unfolded in the bustling parking

lot of a fast food restaurant Friday afternoon when a 42-year-old man

pulled out a black, long-barelled handgun and shot a man several times in

close range, according to police and witnesses.

The victim, whom police did not identify, was taken to Western Medical

Center in Santa Ana in critical condition. As of Friday night he was

still fighting for his life, officials said.

Ramadan Dokovic of Downey, the man accused of pumping the victim with

bullets at a Jack In The Box parking lot on the corner of 17th Street and

Tustin Avenue, was also taken to the hospital after he complained of

chest pain. Police said he was released later and booked into Costa Mesa

jail.

Police responded to a 911 call around 3 p.m. and found the victim shot

and unconscious in the driver’s seat of a black Mercedes Benz

convertible, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Dale Birney.

Birney said an officer who happened to be right across the street

promptly confronted Dokovic.

A man who saw the shooting jumped out of his car and identified

Dokovic for the officer, he said. Birney said Dokovic had dropped the

high caliber black handgun on the trunk of the Mercedes and was walking

away from the car when the police officer arrested him.

The victim, who police said had suffered severe gunshot wounds to his

upper body and torso, was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Police said no information was available either about the relationship

between the two men or the motive behind the shooting.

The macabre incident horrified people who were out to spend a regular

Friday afternoon at the popular shopping center.

Katherine Lesage who was waiting with her mother to get her hair cut

at a nearby salon said she was “shocked and disgusted.”

Lesage said she turned to look at the parking lot when she heard a gun

blast away and a man scream “Help me! Help me!”

“I saw this man kind of sitting hands over his head, cowering and this

other man standing next to him, looking down on him,” the Costa Mesa

resident said shuddering.

“Then I saw him shoot the man twice. Bam! Bam! And then I ran to the

back of the store with my mom. I feared for our safety. I heard one more

shot fired after that.”

Lesage said she saw the man police identified as Dokovic shoot the

other man point blank.

“He held the gun up in the air,” she said. “He was waving it all over

the place. He had a cigarette in one hand and gun in the other.”

Police had taped off a large portion of the Plaza’s parking lot. Crime

scene specialists and detectives investigated the Mercedes that stood in

the parking lot with its top down.

A handgun and a pack of Marlboro cigarettes were placed on the trunk

of the car. A blue baseball cap lay upturned on the ground below the open

driver’s side door of the Mercedes.

A dark blue 1966 Prima Satellite that belonged to the witness who

identified Dokovic to the police was parked crookedly near the entrance

of the fast food restaurant.

“It was very very scary,” Lesage said. “The whole thing was so

bizarre. I felt like I was watching a movie. He didn’t seem rushed at

all.”

Other witnesses too said the shooter appeared calm and collected even

after he shot his victim and that he showed no signs of fleeing the

scene.

Judi Hoelderlin of Fountain Valley who had dropped by an antique store

in the plaza with her mother after they had a tranquil lunch, said she

saw the man light up a cigarette right after he shot his victim.

“I didn’t see him actually shoot,” she said. “I saw him standing in

the parking lot with the gun in his hand. That was a lot more than what I

wanted to see today.”

Hoelderlin, whose car was parked barely two spaces away from the black

Mercedes convertible, said she felt lucky she and her mother were not

anywhere near their car at the time of the shooting.

She said Dokovic looked like “any average guy.”

“He was wearing a black leather jacket, black pants,” she said.

“Normal looking guy cleanshaven, with short brown hair.”

Although traumatized by the incident, Lesage said she liked the

neighborhood she lives in and feels quite safe.

“It’s a good community we live in,” she said. “This is the first time

that I’ve seen something like this happen in many many years.”