Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : 2 Shot After Fighting Breaks Out at Party

A man and woman were shot during a large party just after midnight Sunday by gunmen who escaped as guests stoned the getaway car, police said.

Wounded were Manuel R. Vasquez, 30, and Matilde Santizanez, 33, both of Santa Ana. They live in the apartment complex where the shootings occurred.

Aureo Aguilera, 30, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and taken to Orange County Jail, Sgt. Joe Esther said.

Esther said the violence broke out at 12:30 a.m. during a party at 1221 W. Brook St.

Several guests began fighting. One of them, Vasquez, was forced into the parking lot behind the apartment building, where he was shot twice. Aguilera allegedly shot him, Esther said.

Vasquez was treated Sunday at UCI Medical Center in Orange for wounds to his stomach, back and lower abdomen.

As Vasquez was shot, two men at the party who were not involved in the parking lot attack “apparently thought they were being fired” upon and fired three rounds each into the party, police said.

One round hit Santizanez, who Esther said was not involved in the fighting. She was treated Sunday at UCI Medical Center for a shoulder wound, police said.

The two men who fired into the crowd sped away in a white-and-blue older model car. Guests threw stones at the car, cracking the front windshield, police said. The suspects were described as tall, thin Latino men between 30 and 45 years old. Each was armed with a semiautomatic handgun.

Police later arrested Aguilera, who was hiding in a nearby apartment, and recovered a .45-caliber automatic pistol that allegedly was used to shoot Vasquez.