Man Survives Attack, Won’t Help Police

A 55-year-old Norwalk man riddled with bullets early Friday in a Costa Mesa parking structure has survived but is not cooperating with investigators, police said.

The victim, William C. Carroll, was in his car when someone fired shots into his head “numerous times,” a police spokesman said.

Hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Carroll was conscious but refused to discuss the shooting or his assailant, police said.

“It really makes you wonder when a person lives through an experience like that and then doesn’t want to talk to police,” Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dave Brooks said.

Security guards at the parking structure at 660 Town Center near South Coast Plaza and the Performing Arts Center called police at 12:30 a.m. and reported an apparent fight on the fourth floor of the garage, Brooks said.

The guards had responded to that floor--apparently someone else reported the fight to them--and found Carroll wandering around the parking structure “with a head injury,” Brooks said.

He said the guards then discovered that Carroll had been shot “numerous times in the head while inside his car.”

Brooks added that “nobody can” believe that the man survived the attack.

Carroll was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, where he was interviewed by detectives, who got little information from him, Brooks said.

“He was extremely uncooperative with detectives,” Brooks added. “They have been unable to establish a motive and (learn) why Mr. Carroll was in the parking structure or what he was doing. The type and caliber of the weapon are not known.”

It was not immediately known if or where Carroll worked, and Brooks said detectives have been stymied by the victim’s lack of cooperation.

Although Carroll was found staggering around, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Rick Johnson said security guards and officers determined that Carroll had been shot inside a Honda he had been driving because blood was found in the car.

State Department of Motor Vehicles records show only that Carroll is the registered owner of an Oldsmobile and that he lists his address as being in Buena Park.

He has used three other names as well, DMV records show: William Joseph Powers, William Joseph Heldman and Wilhelm Joseph Helman.

Police said they were puzzled but could not immediately explain why Carroll had used three other names.