Costa Mesa police arrest 3 carjacking suspects
Christine Carrillo
Three men led police officers on a chase Sunday night after
carjacking a vehicle belonging to a 50-year-old Costa Mesa woman,
police said.
The woman sat in her vehicle in the Mother’s Market & Kitchen
parking lot at 185 E. 17th St. when the three suspects knocked on her
window and forced their way inside, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale
Birney.
Alejandro Ortiz, 20, Alejandro Arellano, 22, and a 17-year-old boy
were arrested on suspicion of carjacking, resisting an officer and
evading arrest, Birney said.
Although the suspects had no weapons, they forced the woman out of
the vehicle and knocked her to the ground before driving off, Birney
said. The woman suffered minor cuts and bruises, he said.
Costa Mesa police quickly received witness information that
provided them with a description of the vehicle and the suspects.
That information was relayed to another officer who tried to stop the
vehicle at Ward Street and Talbert Avenue in Fountain Valley. After
refusing to stop, the suspects led the police on a short pursuit that
ended when the vehicle hit a parked car, causing minor injury to one
of the suspects, Birney said.
Costa Mesa police officers worked with the Fountain Valley and
Santa Ana police departments, including several canine units and a
helicopter, to find two of the three suspects.
After a 2 1/2-hour search in Fountain Valley, officers caught the
two suspects. Ortiz and Arellano, both of Santa Ana, are being held
without bail at Costa Mesa Jail. The 17-year-old boy, also a Santa
Ana resident, was taken to Orange County Juvenile Hall.
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