Santa Ana : Suspect in Store Slaying Found Hanging in Cell

The suspect in the shooting death of a Santa Ana video store owner tried to commit suicide Sunday by hanging himself with bed sheets in his Orange County Jail cell, authorities said.

Juan Ceja, 27, of Santa Ana was in critical condition Sunday evening in the intensive care unit at UCI Medical Center in Orange, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Ceja was rushed to the hospital by paramedics after he was discovered hanging in his cell on the jail’s medical housing floor about 3:20 p.m., Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Conner said.

Ceja was booked into the jail by Santa Ana police on Friday on suspicion of the fatal shooting of Manuel Ramirez a day earlier in Ramirez’s Video Disco International store on South Main Street.

Ramirez, a successful entrepreneur who owned a flower shop and clothing stores in Santa Ana as well as the video store, had turned down Ceja’s application for one of the shop’s membership cards because the address and phone number Ceja had given did not check out, friends of Ramirez said after the murder.

Ceja was picked up by police along with two juveniles and another adult less than an hour after Ramirez was shot in the torso with a handgun. The car he was riding in matched the description of the car that sped away from the video store after the Thursday shooting, and a .38-caliber gun was found in the car, police said.

The other three were questioned and released, but Ceja was booked on suspicion of murder and was being held in the County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Conner said he did not know why Ceja was being held on the medical floor. He was by himself in the cell when he was found, Conner said.

Although Ceja was in critical condition, Conner said it “appears he (Ceja) will recover from the (suicide) attempt.”