Gang Slaying in Santa Ana Sparks Fears

A 22-year-old Santa Ana man who was slain in a drive-by shooting late Sunday became the city’s fourth gang-related homicide victim so far this year, police said.

On Monday, city investigators took it as an ominous sign, because just six gang killings took place in all of last year in Santa Ana.

Santa Ana Police Investigator Tom Serafin predicted “a high year” and said the city’s worst year for gang murders was 1979, when police estimate there were 12.

Police said they found Javier Evangelista about 10:50 p.m. Sunday lying on a sidewalk on the 100 block of South Hickory Street, bleeding from a gunshot wound. He was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.

Police declined to release further details. But according to several men who gathered near the shooting scene Monday--including two who identified themselves as witnesses but declined to give their names--the victim was shot as he stood talking with friends.

‘F-Troop’ Gang Name

As a red Monte Carlo was passing by, they said, a passenger in the front seat suddenly pulled a handgun, shouted the gang name “F-Troop!” and fired about five times.

Evangelista fell to the ground, the men said, with two bullet wounds in his chest.

A spokesman for the county coroner’s office, however, declined to say how many times Evangelista was hit.

Serafin estimated that there are 75 street gangs and more than 7,000 gang members in the county. And more than half of those gangs--some in existence for at least 15 years--are based in Santa Ana, he said.

“With this many guys out there, there are more targets,” Serafin said.

All of this year’s gang-related homicides in Santa Ana were motivated by gang feuds, not for personal gain, such as robbery, he added.

The number of gang murders countywide this year--five--is about the number at this time last year, said John Conley, head of Orange County’s district attorney’s gang prosecution unit.

Last year, the countywide total was 12--far below the 452 that Los Angeles County recorded, he said.

“Twelve human lives is a serious matter,” Conley said. “Luckily, we don’t have as many as L.A.”