Shooting rocks Westside

Lolita Harper

A 20-year-old Santa Ana man was shot and killed Saturday afternoon

while hanging out with a group of friends in an alley near the

intersection of Wilson Street and Placentia Avenue, police said.

Ferdinand Eugenio Zamudio-Saucedo was shot in the chest at about

1:20 p.m. after a brief argument with a passerby, said Costa Mesa Lt.

Ron Smith. The unknown suspect took off on foot and neighbors called

the police.

Responding officers and emergency workers found Zamudio-Saucedo on

the ground unconscious and immediately transferred him to Hoag

Memorial Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on

arrival.

Smith said Zamudio-Saucedo was talking with four friends behind a

group of apartments that face Wilson Avenue when an unknown suspect

approached the group. He wanted to speak with Zamudio-Saucedo and the

two separated from the group, Smith said. All of the sudden, the

victim’s friends heard a gun shot and saw Zamudio-Saucedo laying on

the ground bleeding.

“They were shocked,” Smith said. “They thought the two were just

talking and let them have their space and all of the sudden they

heard the shot.”

Police have a vague description of the suspect, who they believe

is about 5-foot-5 with a medium build between 20 and 30 years old.

Police do not know if the shooter had a motive. The search continued

through the night and as of press time, no arrests had been made.

“We don’t know if it’s gang related, drug related, girlfriend

related,” Smith said. “We really don’t know much about it.”

Olivia Morales and Carol Salazar said Zamudio-Saucedo -- or

“Freddy Scarface,” as he was known around the neighborhood -- was not

a gangster but coordinated various parties around Orange County and

knew a lot of people.

“He was the main head of his crew,” Olivia said. “It was going to

be called the Chicanos, or something, and he asked me to be in it.”

A crew is not a gang, the girls explained. It is a group of kids

who get together and dance and party. There is loyalty and friendship

but not violence. He had just begun promoting his Halloween party,

14-year-old Carol said. She had the flier in her folder.

While Zamudio-Saucedo did not officially affiliate himself with a

gang, many known gang members attended his parties, they said.

“You see why these things happen? He was hanging out with those

fools and someone probably thought he was a banger,” Olivia, 16,

said.

A bloodhound from the Long Beach Police Department was brought in

and led police on an 8-mile search for the suspect and clues. After

sniffing the crime scene, the pure bred took off southbound on

Placentia Avenue, west on Victoria Avenue, south on Federal Avenue,

down Oak Street, east on Grove Street to Republic Avenue and into

Canyon Park. The team of police continued to follow the scent along

the western border of the city, through the bluffs to Fairview Park,

through the Estancia High School campus, back to Placentia Avenue and

to the original crime scene. The search lasted nearly three hours.

In the meantime, residents of the apartments watched as

heavily-armed police enveloped their alley, which is also used as a

common meeting place for the neighborhood teens, they said. Young

children shot hoops at the end of the alley, while dozens of police

officers, sergeants, detectives and crime scene investigators

enveloped their playground, looking for evidence.

Antonio Morales, Jr., 13, said he heard the shot but thought it

was just a BB gun. When he looked outside, he saw Zamudio-Saucedo

lying on the ground, clutching his chest.

“He kept saying he thought his heart was going to stop,” Antonio

said.

His father, Antonio Morales, Sr., shook his head with disbelief

and turned to his wife and said, “You see,” in Spanish.

“I never thought this could happen here -- right here in my

parking lot” the father said. “There are a lot of guys who smoke and

drink in the alley but it was always harmless. Never like this.”

The 13-year-old said it is not uncommon to hear a scuffle in the

alley, or see the older kids “partying” back there.

“There are gangsters here but nothing like this, you know,”

Antonio said.

In fact, investigators’ first lead took them to the doorstep of a

known gang hangout, just a few buildings south, in the 2100 block of

Placentia Avenue. The lead fizzled after a brief interview with a

reputed gang member and a negative identification from a witness, who

was brought to the scene by police in a minivan with heavily-tinted

windows to ensure anonymity.

“[The witness] is just so afraid of retaliation,” one detective

said to his colleague.

Chris Wattack said she would be afraid too. Wattack, who passed

the scene on her way to the bus stop, called the area scary and said

she avoids it as much as possible. She lives in the Heritage house

just up the street and only ventures out of the house to walk her

children to school, catch the bus or “grab a smoke.”

“This is not surprising at all,” Wattack said. “We always knew

this area was bad. Now we know how bad it really is.”

The bright yellow tape, flashing lights, buzzing helicopter

overhead and uniformed police attracted attention from other

passersby, as well. Cars slowed to see what the fuss was about and

some even pulled over to ask what happened. Dozens of people in the

highly pedestrian area of town walked right by the crime scene, with

children in tow, politely moving around the officers and their

vehicles. Many of the children stopped to say hi to officers and one

father asked if his sons could take pictures in front of the police

motorcycle.

“Sure,” Costa Mesa Sgt. Scott May said. “They can sit on it, if

you want. Go ahead, put them up there.”

The father happily snapped photos, while investigators questioned

his neighbors about a homicide.

Across the street, a soccer game was winding up.

One boy offered sodas from the 24-pack he had just bought at

7-Eleven to the officers.

Rows of chairs, balloons and a bounce house were set up in an

adjacent courtyard, where party-goers did their best to celebrate

despite the grim circumstances. The children played and adults

laughed hardily, while occasionally reminding their youngsters to

stay out of the way of police, who were busy taking finger prints and

looking for the gun.

Olivia could not shake the incident as easily as her neighbors

seemed to. “Freddy” is the second friend Olivia has lost to random

street violence. Her other friend was shot in a similar fashion in

Santa Ana.

“I wonder how his mom is feeling,” she said, clutching her

5-month-old baby. “Why does this kind of stuff happen? Now people are

going to be afraid. They are going to be afraid to let their kids

play outside.”

Saturday’s shooting marks the first murder in Costa Mesa this year

and the first murder under the new police chief, John Hensley. The

most recent homicide involved a sorted love triangle and the murder

of a 42-year-old man, who was found in a Costa Mesa hotel room. His

suspected killer committed suicide the following week at a Huntington

Beach shooting range.

Smith said the first few hours after a murder are the most crucial

because the leads get colder by the day. Police were to continue the

search with a fresh bloodhound at about 8 p.m., he said. While the

trails may cool, murder investigations never close until they are

solved, he said.

If anyone has any information about Saturday’s shooting, police

ask that you call (714) 754-5356.

* LOLITA HARPER writes columns Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and

covers culture and the arts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or

by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.