Another shooting plagues Westside

Lolita Harper

Another mysterious shooting shook a Westside neighborhood Friday

night leaving a 21-year-old Costa Mesa man in the hospital with a gun

shot wound to the leg, police said.

The victim, who was not identified by police, was standing on the

sidewalk in the 600 block of Hamilton Street at around 9 p.m. Friday

night when three men, in their early 20s, approached him, Lt. Tom

Curtis said.

One of the suspects said something to the victim and then removed

a handgun, Curtis said. The 21-year-old started to run and was shot

in the leg, he said. The suspects took off and the victim was taken

to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he remains for

treatment. No arrests have been made, Curtis said.

George Salas, 18, and Eddie Ibarra, 19, were skateboarding at Rea

Elementary School Saturday afternoon -- in the same block of the

shooting. Both men grew up and live within walking distance of the

crime and said it they had “heard about it” from friends.

Salas said the shooting happened right outside of his friend’s

house. He said that word on the street says the shootings were gang

related, despite police’s reluctance to paint it as such just yet.

The two men said that such a crime is always surprising to hear about

but then again, it is somewhat expected.

“It’s pretty rare but then again, we live in the ghetto, so what

do you expect?” Ibarra said. “We get violence from our own people.”

This is the third shooting in four months in which a group of

three or four young men walked up to one or more victims, initiated

conversation and fired a gun.

The first was on Oct. 11, 2003, and resulted in the death of

20-year-old Ferdinand Eugenio Zamudio-Saucedo, who was shot in the

chest while standing in an alley near the corner of Placentia Avenue

and Wilson Street.

Costa Mesa police were searching for Ismael Rosolio Martinez, 31,

of Costa Mesa, in connection with Zamudio-Saucedo’s death, which

investigators deemed not to be gang related.

The second was also an alley shooting on Nov. 26 in the 3000 block

of Coolidge Avenue, which left a man and a woman wounded. Sixty

officers from the Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Santa Ana police

departments, as well as officials from the Orange County district

attorney’s office and the Probation Department, served search

warrants in connection to the shooting and arrested four men and two

boys.

Curtis said Friday’s shooting was “possibly” gang related and that

Sgt. Jack Archer, who was not available for comment, would further

investigate it. Curtis said he could not release further details

about the incident because it was still under investigation.

Salas and Ibarra said they still feel comfortable in their

neighborhood and are not afraid to walk down the streets. In fact,

the violence has gotten better since “back in the days,” the men

said.

“It used to be a lot worse,” Salas said.

Mothers with babies in strollers walked by and children played

basketball on the school grounds. A young couple walked along

Hamilton, sharing a smoothie and a family held a yard sale. Ibarra

and Salas said life simply goes on.

“Of course it bothers me but what are you going to do about it?”

he said. “You just mind your own business and protect your own life.”