1 Killed, 4 Wounded by Gunman in Area Preyed on by Gangs

An argument over a can of beer apparently led to a shooting that left one man dead and four others wounded Monday in a Santa Ana neighborhood where residents have complained of gangs and rising violence.

At least 10 people were gathered outside a residence in the 200 block of South Bristol Street just after midnight Sunday when a man with a high-powered rifle fired more than 10 rounds in their direction from a parking lot across the street, Maureen Thomas, a Santa Ana police spokeswoman, said. Witnesses said the gunman had asked for a beer and, after he was refused, returned with the weapon and opened fire.

“We are classifying this as a gang-related homicide because people at the scene told police the victims were members of a gang,” Thomas said.

Police identified the dead man as Kerry Eugene Majors, 20, of Santa Ana, who was struck in the upper torso. Wounded were Marvin Walton, 21, who lived in the home where the shootings occurred; Jesus Garcia, 24, and Jarvis Johnson, 24, both of Santa Ana, and a 16-year-old girl whose identity was not released by police.

The wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment, Thomas said. Johnson was listed in serious condition but expected to survive, she said, and the others were in stable condition.

Gang violence and drug trafficking are on the rise in the enclave near Bristol and 1st streets, according to neighbors, who said they are reluctant to leave their homes at night. Jose and Alisa Vallena, a young Spanish-speaking couple who live across the street from Monday’s shooting scene, said they had moved from an apartment near Walnut Street to escape drugs and violence in their old neighborhood.

“It’s not much better,” Vallena said. “They sell drugs here, too.” Vallena said his home had been hit by a Molotov cocktail just three days before the shootings.

Eva Walton, 28, whose brother, Marvin, was one of those wounded, said she will move temporarily to a relative’s house.

“You’re never safe, no matter where you’re at,” she said, adding that she was in the house when the shooting occurred but escaped injury. “You can walk down the street and get shot,” she said.

Walton and friends of the wounded denied that the shootings were gang-related. But Majors’

grandmother said she feared for his life as he became “deeper and deeper” involved in gangs.

“When you run with the wrong crowd, bad things happen. He didn’t have anyone to turn to,” Elizabeth Martha Harris said. She added that Majors had recently begun carrying a gun.

“I tried to turn him from the gang wars, but I couldn’t,” she said. “When I saw the gun, I told him I knew there was going to be trouble. I knew that someday I was going to be looking down on him and he would be dead.”

Majors and several others had gathered in front of the Bristol Street house early Monday morning when a man pulled up and dropped off a passenger who was known to the group, according to Eva Walton and other witnesses. The man asked Majors for a beer. When Majors refused, a verbal argument ensued, she explained.

The man left, but returned later, Walton said. He pulled into the parking lot of a medical clinic across the street, stood behind some bushes and fired at the group, she said. “It sounded like a machine gun. It was loud. I just got down and prayed that no one was hurt,” she related.

Marvin’s brother, Eddie, 39, said that his brother had been sitting on a chair on a porch when the shooting started. “I don’t think it was gang-related,” he said. “There’s crazy people in the world.”

According to police, the homicide was Santa Ana’s third gang-related murder this year, compared to nine gang deaths last year.

Lt. David Salazar, who conducted a review of 1987 police records, said there were also 78 gang-related assaults, including assaults with deadly weapons, shootings and attempted murders. As of July, 60 assaults have been reported, Salazar said.

A survey compiled by the district attorney’s office in March identified 83 gangs in the county and concluded that gang activity has increased. Gangs are most active in impoverished areas of Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster, according to law enforcement officials.

In addition, Salazar said that more deadly, high-powered weapons usually associated with drug-dealing gangs have been used during several gang shootings in the past. In Monday’s shooting, several bullets, which police believe were fired from an assault rife or another type of high-powered weapon, smashed through the front wall of the home. The bullets, which did not strike any victims, then pierced a bedroom wall, traveled through the rear wall of the home and were found embedded in a block wall in the back yard.

Salazar, who would not speak specifically about Monday’s shooting, said gang shootings in Santa Ana continue to be “turf-oriented” rather than related to protecting drug profits.

Community leader Helen R. Brown, executive director of the Civic Center Barrio Housing Corp., called for jobs, job training, and better education to steer young people away from gangs.

“It’s been time for a citywide, anti-gang program a long time ago,” Brown said. “You ever hear of the old saying, ‘Idle times are the devil’s workshop? These young people need to know that other people care about them.”