5 Arrested After Drive-by Shootings : La Habra Incident Said to Be Gang-Related; No One Hurt

Three adults and two juveniles were arrested early Sunday morning 20 minutes after shots from semiautomatic weapons were fired from a van at four family members outside their La Habra home, police said.

The five, who “all have gang ties,” La Habra Police Sgt. Phil Stufflebean said, also are suspected of having fired at another residence Saturday night, he said. No one was injured in either incident, he said.

The shootings were gang-related, Stufflebean said, but the victims are not gang members and police were not sure why they were targeted.

Police identified the suspects as Humberto Morgutia, 20; Vincent Camargo, 27; Heraclio Sanchez, 18, and two male juveniles, ages 16 and 17, all of La Habra. All were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

Stufflebean said at least three shots were fired at Fidencio Sanchez, 21, his wife Aurora, 22, an unidentified baby she was holding, and Fidencio Sanchez’s brother, Alvaro, 11.

The Sanchezes--who are not related to suspect Heraclio Sanchez--were driving to their home in the 200 block of East Rosecrest Avenue and were followed by a van, Stufflebean said. When the family got out of the car, shortly before midnight, the van drove by with its doors open and the shots were fired, he said.

A description of the van was broadcast to patrol units, and at 12:15 a.m. police spotted one matching the description about two miles away on Harbor Boulevard. In it, police found a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun, Stufflebean said.

Later Sunday, police found a semiautomatic rifle at the residence of one of the suspects, which police believe also was used in the shooting, Stufflebean said. That weapon had jammed, he said.

Stufflebean did not know to which gang the suspects allegedly belong.

The three adults were held Sunday at the La Habra City Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail each, and the two teen-agers were taken to Juvenile Hall, Stufflebean said.