3 Arrested as Suspects in Drive-by Killings of 2

Three suspected gang members have been arrested and a fourth is being questioned in two drive-by shootings last weekend that left two youths slain and a man wounded, police said Thursday.

Jerry Rivera, 18, and Patrick Che McCauley, 19, both of Santa Ana, are being held in Orange County Jail on two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of stolen property, according to Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Chavez.

The third suspect, also of Santa Ana, is 15 years old and is being held at Juvenile Hall on suspicion of similar charges, Chavez said.

The three were arrested early Wednesday. A black Honda car stolen from Irvine that was reportedly used in the weekend shootings was found Monday in front of a house frequented by McCauley, Chavez said.

Suspect Already in Jail

A fourth suspect, Mario Tirado, 20, of Santa Ana has been in Orange County jail since Saturday on another gang-related shooting that occurred about a week earlier on South Cypress Street. No one was injured in that shooting, but a person inside the house that was shot at identified Tirado as one of the assailants, Chavez said.

When police searched Tirado’s residence, they found two rifles and a shotgun, including a .223-caliber rifle they believe was used in the Oct. 30 slayings of Enrique Arceo, 13, and Jesus M. Perez Jr., 17, and in the shooting of Francisco Hernandez, 27, earlier on that date.

Police believe the semiautomatic, military-caliber rifle was also used in the attempted murder of a 13-year-old boy on his way home from school near McFadden Avenue and Mohawk Drive on Sept. 16, Chavez said.

Another gang member, Jose Rivera, 19, (unrelated to Jerry Rivera) was arrested last week in that shooting.

“The weapon has been passed around,” said Chavez, adding that the shootings do not appear to be connected “other than the fact that they (the assailants) were from a gang other than their (the victims’) gang.”

Members of Lopers Gang

Family members and friends of Arceo and Perez have said the two were affiliated with the Lopers gang.

The two were hit by rifle fire from a passing car on Lacy Street as they rode their bicycles home from a church carnival about 9:30 p.m. last Friday.

About 20 minutes earlier, a carload of men fired two shots at Francisco Hernandez, 27, hitting him once in the buttocks as he walked along South Cedar Street. He had attended a wake that night for a family friend killed Oct. 25 in yet another drive-by shooting. Hernandez was not seriously injured.

Just before he was shot, Hernandez said, his assailants yelled “(expletive) Lopers!”

The Lopers, many of whose members are illegal aliens recently arrived from Mexico, were involved in several of 14 shootings--both as victims and suspected assailants--that terrorized Santa Ana in the spring and early summer of 1986.

Police have not commented on the gang affiliations of either the victims or suspects in the spate of recent shootings, saying they do not want to give the gangs publicity.

Chavez said the four suspects in jail are not the same four who were questioned by police Saturday about the shootings.