Bullets Hit Boy, Miss Family in Drive-by Shooting

A 10-year-old boy standing in front of a Santa Ana house was shot in the hand and a stray bullet narrowly missed those inside watching television in a drive-by shooting Saturday, police said.

The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was an innocent victim of a gang-related shooting, Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Chavez said Sunday.

Lt. Jack Nelson said police had received reports of at least two cars exchanging gunfire in the neighborhood about 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

According to witnesses, the child was astride a bicycle in front of a home in the 1000 block of South Diamond Street when several shots were fired about 9 p.m. The home is across the street from a church in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, Chavez said.

“The boy was hit when someone fired several shots from a car at the home,” Chavez said.

Several .22-caliber bullets pierced a wall of the residence, one struck the boy and another went through a window, barely missing three young boys sitting on a couch, police said.

“My family was inside, and my boys were on our couch. We were watching a movie on television when all this happened,” said Ramon Garcia, who shares the home with his wife and three boys.

Witnesses said that in all, about five shots were fired from a car that drove north, possibly on McFadden Street.

The injured boy, who was shot in the palm of his hand, lives down the block.

“He was just standing over there in front of our house while he was on a bicycle,” Garcia said. “We really don’t know him, only that he lived down the street a bit.”

Garcia said there was absolutely no reason for people to shoot at his home.

“It did scare us, though,” he said, pointing to a large hole in a living room window. Garcia said the bullet came so close to one of his sons that the boy could hear it “whizzing by.”

Police recovered the bullet, which had glanced off a wall and landed behind a couch.

The unidentified boy was treated at a nearby hospital, Chavez said.