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.