Local News in Brief : Costa Mesa : Shooting Victim Was Garden Grove Man

A man who was shot and killed Monday by the driver of a car he was chasing was identified Tuesday as Jeremias Diaz Delacruz, 41, of Garden Grove, Costa Mesa police said.

Delacruz, who was driving a van with Mexican license plates, was shot in the chest about 4:45 p.m. after he chased a Chevrolet Caprice through Costa Mesa streets, Police Sgt. Ron Smith said.

The chase began on Harbor Boulevard near the San Diego Freeway and ended when the driver of the Caprice pulled onto Cadillac Avenue, a dead-end street.

When Delacruz was shot, he “was standing probably right outside his driver’s (Delacruz’s) door,” Smith said. “There were three witnesses involved, but they didn’t see much. . . . They were in the back of the van.”

Police were interviewing the witnesses Tuesday on why Delacruz was chasing the man.

“We don’t have any indication that the driver knew the suspect and none of the witnesses had any idea what was going on,” Smith said. “As near as we can make out, Delacruz initiated the chase.”

The assailant was described as about 35 years old, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with long blond hair. A female passenger was riding with him in the brown, four-door Caprice, which was a 1979 or 1980 model, Smith said. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Dan Hogue at (714) 754-5365.