Santa Ana Man Fatally Shot in Apparent Drug Deal Gone Sour

A 24-year-old Santa Ana man was shot and killed Tuesday night in an apparent drug deal gone awry outside a Long Beach hamburger restaurant as he tried to pull an Uzi from under his jacket in self-defense, authorities said.

A 17-year-old witness parked nearby escaped death as the fleeing gunmen fired several rounds into his car narrowly missing him, police said.

Francisco Colin Madero was found dead shortly after 6 p.m. in the parking lot of the Golden Burger restaurant at 6380 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach Police Detective William Collette said.

Madero was found with at least three wounds from either 9-millimeter or 45-caliber bullets, Collette said. Apparently no one else was injured in the gunfire, he added.

Police have no suspects, but eight or nine Latino men in their 20s were seen fleeing the shooting scene by eyewitnesses, Collette said. The name of the Long Beach 17-year-old who witnessed the shooting was being withheld to protect his life.

An attache case that apparently belonged to Madero was discovered next to him filled with bundles of currency, Collette said. Stacks of $1 bills had $50 bills on the top and bottom of the stacks, suggesting that someone may have been ripped off in a drug deal, he said.

“Apparently it’s a dope deal, the best we can figure,” said Collette, who is investigating the shooting death. “But we don’t know who was getting ripped off.”

According to police accounts, Madero pulled into the parking lot alone shortly before 6 p.m. with another car following him. Four men got out of the second car and began arguing loudly in Spanish with Madero, Collette said.

Two other cars already parked on the lot emptied and several men approached the arguing parties, Collette said. At this point, the men in the car that followed Madero pulled out handguns and began firing at the Santa Ana man. Madero tried to reach for a loaded Uzi weapon under his jacket that was tucked in his pants but was unsuccessful, Collette said.

As the three cars raced away, the occupants fired several rounds at the 17-year-old who was sitting in his car watching the shoot-out, Collette said.

“He was a lucky young kid,” Collette said, adding that the teen-ager was not wounded in the gunfire.