UPDATE:

Police were searching for clues Thursday in the drive-by shooting death of a Costa Mesa man that also left four others injured and hospitalized late Wednesday.

Israel Maciel, 23, died at the scene after he and four others were allegedly shot by a man in an alley off the 1300 block of West Baker Street at 8:19 p.m. Wednesday.

The four remaining victims were recuperating from wounds not considered life-threatening Thursday morning, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Bob Ciszek said.

Police said they are investigating the shooting as a possible gang-related crime.

“It’s a whodunit at this point,” Ciszek said.

Police are bringing in extra officers to patrol in the area of the shooting and answer questions from community members, Costa Mesa Interim Police Chief Steve Staveley said.

“This is a really safe community,” Staveley said.

Witnesses saw a white man in his 20s, with a shaved head, mustache and goatee, leave the scene in a silver or metallic blue, four-door Chevrolet Impala. The shots were reportedly fired from inside the Impala but no one saw the actual gun, police said.

Miguel Barcenas, whose brother Ivan Barcenas was wounded but survived the shooting, said he heard approximately nine shots fired that night.

“I grew up here and I’ve never heard anything like this before,” Barcenas said. “And there’s no reason, that’s the sad part.”

His brother was “hanging out outside” when the gunfire broke out, Barcenas said.

“It’s sick. You can tell the car was not from around here,” Barcenas said of the shooter’s car.

The neighborhood near West Baker Street and Warren Lane has not been a trouble spot for police, until now, Ciszek said.

Wednesday’s shooting death marks the fourth homicide in eight months in Costa Mesa, Ciszek said.

“It’s unfortunate,” Ciszek said.

At the shooting scene Thursday morning, remnants remained of the previous night’s tragedy. Yellow police crime scene tape was draped across children’s toys in the grass courtyard where most of the shooting took place. A picture of Maciel with the words “murdered at 23” was taped up to a nearby tree. A grouping of candles were placed in the alley where Maciel died.

Employees at Jack’s Surfboards said Maciel had worked in the company’s Huntington Beach warehouse for more than a year.

“It’s a shame,” said Mike Abdelmuti, manager of Jack’s Surfboards on the Balboa Peninsula, as tears welled up in his eyes when he learned of Maciel’s death.

Police said Maciel lived near to where the shooting happened. The other victims were identified by police as: Carlos Gutierrez, 25, of Huntington Beach, Edgar Eduardo Perez, 18, of Costa Mesa, Ivan Barcenas, 18, of Costa Mesa, and a 17-year-old juvenile from Costa Mesa.

Miguel Barcenas, said his brother, Ivan Barcenas, is OK but won’t be released Thursday from Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Miguel Barcenas said his brother just needs more rest and his family is grateful he’s alive.

“You hear of people getting shot because they had problems or for drugs, but it’s not even like that,” Barcenas said. “They didn’t do nothing to nobody.”