Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : 2 Men Wounded in Drive-By Shooting

Two Santa Ana men were arrested Friday in connection with the wounding of two other men in what police called a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Maureen Thomas, a Santa Ana police spokeswoman, said Carlos Aguilar and Alejandro Gutierrez, both 21, were standing in front of a house in the 700 block of West Myrtle Street at noon Friday when two men drove by in a blue 1978 Oldsmobile and fired several shots from a .22-caliber handgun.

Witnesses gave police the car’s license plate number and a patrol officer spotted the car with two men inside at about 1:30 p.m. in front of a house in the 1700 block of West Edinger Avenue. They sped off after being spotted by police, but stopped about half a mile away.

Arrested were Marcos Barrera and Octavio Valenzuela, both 18 and of Santa Ana, who were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Thomas said. Police interviewed all four men and determined that some were gang members, she said.

Aguilar was shot in the chest and Gutierrez was shot in the right elbow, authorities said. Both were taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. A hospital spokeswoman said Aguilar was in good condition and Gutierrez had been released from the emergency room.