Huntington Beach Man Slain in Santa Ana Gang Shooting

A Huntington Beach man was fatally wounded shortly before midnight Sunday in what police said was a gang-related drive-by shooting in a central Santa Ana neighborhood, police said Monday.

It is the third shooting in the 1600 block of Highland Street in the last year, said Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas, who added that details of the two previous shootings were not available.

Joseph Frank Valdez, who had turned 21 the day before the shooting, was struck by a single gunshot about 10:50 p.m. Sunday as he stood on the sidewalk in front of a house on Highland, police said. He died a short time later at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center, police said.

Police have no suspects and refused to supply details other than to say the shooting was related to gang activities. Officers would not say whether the victim was a suspected gang member or why he was in the neighborhood.

Residents of the tree-lined street said shootings and drug sales occur frequently in the community. Walls on Highland Street and on adjoining streets are covered with gang-style graffiti.

Larry Hughes, 26, and his brother, Derek, 22, said they went out to the street about 15 minutes after they heard the shot. They said that they saw Valdez lying on the sidewalk and that it appeared that he had been shot in the head. They said some men were standing near the body.

“They were just saying, ‘My homeboy got blasted. Call the paramedics,’ ” Larry Hughes said. “They had to know the guy because I know they just wouldn’t let the guy come over here and hang out.”

One resident, who asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisals, said someone fired a shot at his garage about three weeks ago.

“A car went by and boom-boom-boom,” he said.

The man said he believed that the bullets were not meant for his house but for somebody standing outside it. No one was reported injured in that shooting.