SANTA ANA : Shooting Death Tied to Jealousy

Olivia Bohaman’s fatal mistake, according to friends, was to fall in love.

The 21-year-old hospital worker, shot to death Saturday in a dispute with her stepfather, had been dating a neighborhood man for about six months and was preparing to move in with him in one month, the friends said.

Her stepfather, Jose Lopez Perez, 32, was reportedly so jealous of the association between Bohaman and her boyfriend that Saturday afternoon he allegedly confronted her with a gun and shot both her and her 15-year-old sister, Eileen, outside their apartment on the 4400 block of West Tampion Avenue.

He also allegedly fired half a dozen rounds at two girls standing nearby but failed to hit either of them.

“He was very possessive,” said Santos Ruiz, a neighbor and family friend.

Olivia Bohaman, shot three times including once in the head, died at UCI Medical Center in Orange a short time after the attack.

Her sister, shot in the back, arm and shoulder, was released from the same hospital Sunday.

The Bohaman sisters’ mother, who was not identified by name, was reportedly at her housecleaning job at the time of the shootings.

Santa Ana police have recovered a car Perez was driving but on Sunday were still searching for him in connection with the shooting. Sgt. Bob Clark said Perez was probably en route to Mexico, where he grew up and has relatives.

Clark said several detectives have been assigned to the case.

According to Jo Anne Ruiz, 24, a longtime friend of the Bohaman sisters, the shooting climaxed weeks of argument between Perez and his eldest stepdaughter over her relationship with a young man who lives around the corner.

On Friday night, Ruiz said, Perez drove by the man’s apartment, fired a shot in the air and shouted for him to stay away from his stepdaughter. The next day, Ruiz said, Perez threatened to kill Olivia Bohaman’s boyfriend.

According to Noemi Lara, 14, a friend of Olivia Bohaman who was with Olivia and her sister at the time, Eileen Bohaman ran home to call police.

Lara said she and Olivia followed, along with Lara’s 8-year-old sister, Sandy.

As soon as they all reached the Bohamans’ two-story residence, Lara said Perez drove up and shouted at Eileen, who was standing outside, to call her sister outside.

“He pulled an automatic pistol out of his pants and just shot at Olivia,” Lara said. “Then he turned and I heard four shots toward Eileen. I got my sister then and ran to the back of a camper” parked nearby.

“When I was running, I saw him point the gun at me. He fired three times. He went to his car then, and as he walked he kept shooting at me and my sister, yelling ‘I’m going to get you.’ When he got in his car, he was still shouting.”