16-Year-Old Boy Killed by Gunfire After He Reportedly Shoots at Man

A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed outside an apartment complex Saturday after he reportedly shot and injured a man during a dispute over drugs, police said.

Another man also was shot in a separate incident that police believe may be related.

“It sounds to me like a fight that started one place with people driving around in cars trading shots with each other,” Santa Ana Police Sgt. Joe Easter said. Police believe several youths were involved in the shootings, which occurred within blocks of each other early Saturday.

Police gave a sketchy account of the incidents.

The 16-year-old youth was gunned down and killed about 1:40 a.m. in front of an apartment complex at 801 S. Townsend St. as he fled from unknown assailants, Easter said. The teen had not been identified late Saturday.

Police believe the youth shot a man in an argument over drugs, then was chased by the man’s companions and gunned down in the street in front of an apartment complex. The man who was shot at was not identified by police and was not seriously wounded, Easter said. He was treated at an area hospital and released.

Easter said the third shooting occurred nearby, at 1st and Fairview streets. An unidentified man was wounded and police said they did not know his condition. Investigators so far have been unable to link this third shooting to the other two but police said they believe all three are connected.