A Roll-Call of Gang Victims: 1990’s Deadly Nights of Warfare

At least seventeen young men have died at the hands of Orange County gang members this year. The oldest was 31, the youngest 15.

Some were gang members slain by rivals. Others were bystanders when gangs ran amok. Police say gang members tend to travel armed, don’t always aim well and are profligate with their bullets.

Among the innocent slain this spring was a convenience store customer who accused two gang members of shoplifting. They shot him point blank in the face. A dishwasher was slain when the restaurant where he worked was held up by suspected gang members.

Some of the homicides sparked community outrage and Page 1 stories; these tended to be about young victims who had family and friends to mourn and bury them. But it took only three paragraphs to note the passing of Jesus Perez, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant gunned down in Santa Ana on a Friday night in what has by now become just an ordinary drive-by shooting.

Together, the murders point to a rising level of gang violence in Orange County. Though no exact statistics exist, the district attorney’s office believes there were roughly 16 gang-related homicides during all of 1989, and an average of roughly a dozen each year for the preceding three years.

“More and more, you say, ‘Who are you with?’ and they identify themselves as gang members,” said Anaheim Police Sgt. Chet Barry.

Homicide statistics are an imperfect measure of gang activity. Dozens of people have also been shot or stabbed by suspected gang members this year. One of them was 8-year-old Carlos Alvarez, pierced by a stray bullet while watching television in his own living room. The bullet went through Carlos and the wall and injured an aunt who was sleeping in the next room. But because both victims survived, that case will never be classified as a gang-related crime.

Similarly, gang members crashed a party in Anaheim last month and three people were severly stabbed in the resulting melee. One is still in critical condition, Barry said. But those three people, whose names have not been released by police, will be classified simply as assault victims.

As the violence mounts, police and the public quickly lose sight of the humanity of the 17 young men slain in gang-related conflicts this year.

“It’s really easy to get hardened and say these (victims) are just gang members . . . or criminals,” Garden Grove Police Capt. David Abrecht said. “We lose sight of the fact that this is a bigger problem for our society than we’d like to admit.”

These are the deaths so far in 1990, according to police, prosecutors, public records and witnesses:

JAN. 2 10:29 P.M.: A Witness Is Shot

Pedro Perez, 30, is shot in the head by an unknown assailant on Myrtle Street in Santa Ana. Information about the case is sketchy, to say the least. Police say a suspect, dressed like a gang member, tried to rob a man. The man ran, and the suspect fired three shots after him but missed. Then, for reasons unexplained, the suspect turned and fired two shots at a group of people standing nearby. One of the bullets hit Perez in the head. He died the next afternoon.

Authorities know almost nothing about Perez, except that his fingerprints were on file, and he was possibly an illegal immigrant. He was not carrying a wallet. No one seems to know where he came from, where he lived or worked, who killed him or why. The coroner has not be able to find any relatives. Perez’s body lies unclaimed in the morgue.

JAN. 5 11:59 P.M.: 2 Stabbed in a Fight

Hector De La Torre, 24, of Santa Ana, said to be a member of the F-Troop gang, and Oscar “Tiny” Jiminez, 18, of Garden Grove, allegedly part of the Anaheim Westside gang, are stabbed to death outside a home on 8th Street in Garden Grove. Friends said their attackers were members of a third gang, the Hoodlum Crips of Garden Grove.

De La Torre died an hour later in an emergency room of chest and groin wounds. He lived with his mother, hadn’t finished high school and listed his occupation as a shipping clerk at Western Digital.

Jiminez, who was stabbed in the neck, bled to death at 2:45 a.m. Like De La Torre, he was born in Mexico, and come to Orange County at age 6. He had six years of education. His body was turned over to his mother.

Taula Poe, 20, of Westminster, and Arnold Mendoza, 19, of Garden Grove, will be tried on murder charges fon June 21.

JAN. 20 9:56 P.M.: ‘It’s Such a Waste’

Javier P. Avila, 22, of Santa Ana, is shot in the head during a melee involving at least 15 gang members armed with belts, bottles and knives. He dies in the emergency room at 4:28 the next morning. Police say Avila and three friends got into a fight with 10 members of the Middleside gang.

Born in Mexico, Avila came to the U.S. at age 12. For the last six months of his life he had been working in the warehouse and driving a delivery truck for Leah’s Fabric in Anaheim. A co-worker said she does not believe he was a gang member. She learned of his death when relatives came in to ask about insurance.

“He was always happy, real pleasant, real nice,” she said. “We’re stunned. We just think it’s such a waste, because he was nice, and he was so young.”

A teen-aged boy was arrested and charged with the murder. The case is still pending.

FEB. 5 12:08 A.M.: Shot in the Back

Aurelio Navarette, 20, is shot in the back in a drive-by attack on Artesia Boulevard in Buena Park. He was pronounced dead on arrival at La Palma Intercommunity Hospital 40 minutes later. His brother, Otoniel, is wounded in the arm.

Navarette’s death certificate lists him as a Buena Park High School student, but school officials say he had left several years ago.

Police say the brothers belonged to the Buena Park “Eastsiders.” Two alleged members of the rival “One Way” gang in Norwalk, aged 15 and 17, have been charged. That homicide case, too, is still pending.

FEB. 23 10:33 P.M.: 5 Shots From a Pickup

Jesus Perez, a 21-year-old janitor, is a passenger in a car driving south on Rene Drive in Santa Ana when a pickup truck carrying several people passes them going in the other direction and fires at least five shots. Perez is struck in the head. Brain surgery fails to save him and he dies four hours later.

Perez had come to the United States four years ago from Mexico, and his body was sent back to Zacatepec for burial. Police do not have a suspect.

FEB. 24 7:51 P.M.: Bullets Spray a Family

Salvador Villa Arias, 18, is standing with several family members outside his home on West 5th Street in Santa Ana when a red pickup truck drives by. A gunman in the back sprays the group with at least six bullets, and one hits Arias in the back of the head.

Police believe Arias was a gang member, but his mother, Teresa Villa, said her son didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t wear gang colors and did not have friends in a gang. But family members noted that the notorious 5th Street gang controls an area on the other side of Euclid Street, away from their neighborhood.

Arias had recently left Los Amigos High School to work as a gardener. His body was returned to Michoacan, Mexico, for burial.

The day after the shooting, police arrested Steven Joseph Salazar, 23, of Santa Ana. Though investigators identified him as a gang member, they declined to specify which gang. One investigator said he has found gang members who save their press clippings in photo albums and view them as a status symbol.

MARCH 4 8:10 P.M.: Argument at a Dance Studio

Ha Huu Dang, 21, is shot in the head in the restroom of Jimmy’s Ballroom Dance Studio in Garden Grove. Police said Dang was not a gang member but had argued with three young men who were.

Born in Vietnam, Dang had graduated from high school and moved to Orange County two years ago. For the past six months, he had been working on an assembly line at Starkey California in Anaheim, making hearing aids. His former boss, Keith Stifter, described Dang as “easy-going, willing to help, kind of a happy-go-lucky guy. Never really seemed like anything bothered him.”

A woman who worked at the dance studio said Dang had come there every week or two with a group of friends. “After the shooting, his friends never came back,” she said.

Police say they have a suspect but have not made an arrest.

MARCH 15 11:21 P.M.: A Bystander Panics

Margarito Alvarado-Robledo, 25, a dishwasher in the Mi Ho Restaurant in Garden Grove, is in the kitchen putting away leftovers when a gunman demands money. According to the owner, Alvarado-Robledo panics and tries to run, and the robber shoots him in the neck. Police believe the robber is a gang member, but have not made an arrest. Details are sketchy, and Garden Grove Police Capt. David Abrecht said the case may not ultimately be classified as a “gang-related homicide.”

Alvarado-Robledo fought for life for seven days before he died. According to his death certificate, he had completed elementary school, had been in Orange County for two years, was married and lived in Stanton. His body was sent to La Esperanza, Mexico for burial.

Speaking through a Korean interpreter, the owner, Chung W. Choi described Alvarado-Robledo as a “very good employee, very honest and hard-working.” Choi said he had immigrated four years ago from Seoul, and the killing so frightened him that for a time he contemplated returning to South Korea.

MARCH 19 12:11 A.M.: Confrontation in a Store

David Eugene Davenport, 31, walks into a Circle K convenience store in Garden Grove to buy cigarettes. Davenport, who had lost his job and apartment and was trying to find work, befriended the night clerk. He accuses two young men of shoplifting. According to Garden Grove Police Det. Mike Handfield, the three men argued briefly and stepped out of the store together. Then the younger of the two shot Davenport in the face. He died instantly.

The two men and a juvenile girl in their car were later arrested. The 17-year-old’s name has not been released, but prosecutors have asked for a hearing May 25 in a bid to prosecute him as an adult. His companion, Cesar Nava Sustaita, 19, has been charged with being an accessory to murder. Handfield said both men belonged to the “Hard Times” gang based in the Buena Clinton neighborhood.

Davenport grew up in Garden Grove, attended Rancho Alamitos High School and had been working as a landscaper, said his mother, Ann Gehrig, who now lives in Coulterville, Calif.

“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Gehrig said.

There are no gangs in Coulterville, she said. “That’s one of the reasons we’re here.”

MARCH 24 1:42 A.M.: ‘Rolling Gun Battle’

Nabor Eustolio Roman, 16, died after being shot several times in the back during what authorities called “a rolling gun battle.” Santa Ana police described Roman as a well-known member of the Highland Street gang who allegedly had shot and wounded a pedestrian earlier that night after an argument over drugs.

An hour later, police said, members of a rival gang found Roman on Townsend Street and shot him dead. Police said two separate guns were used in the slaying. No one has been arrested.

APRIL 3 6:40 P.M.: 6 Shots From a Passing Car

Martin Lopez Rosiles Jr., 19, of Santa Ana, who had been working as a film developer, is shot in the back in a drive-by attack in El Modena, an unincorporated area near Orange. Another 17-year-old is wounded. Rosiles dies 45 minutes later in Chapman General Hospital.

The shooting is a typical gang attack. Vine Street residents said five or six shots were fired from a gray Honda at random into a group of people standing in front of a home. Police say gang members sometimes fire at people or a house without even knowing their intended victim. The Rosiles case has not been solved.

APRIL 10 6:20 P.M.: Holding a Child’s Hand

Martin Julian Gonzalez, 21, is walking along Myrtle Street in Santa Ana headed to the store, holding the hand of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, when a man jumps out of a passing car at shoots him in the neck and chest. The girl is unharmed. Gonzalez dies less than an hour later, despite emergency surgery at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Friends said Gonzalez had been trying to extricate himself from street life. Police believe the shooting is gang-related but have made no arrests.

APRIL 20 10:30 P.M.: ‘ Puro Southside!’ ‘Highland!’

Rojelio M. (Roger) Ochoa, 17, is shot four times in the back after an argument with suspected gang members at a birthday party for a friend on East 3rd Street in Santa Ana. According to Santa Ana Police Lt. David Salazar, witnesses heard Ochoa yell, “Puro (Pure) Southside,” then saw his attacker fire four shots and shout, “Highland!” Ochoa was described as a gentle boy from a tough neighborhood who had left school for a job learning to repair personal computers.

Eight days later, Eleazar Gonzales, 20, was arrested on suspicion of the murder. Two months earlier, Gonzales, identified as a longtime Highland gang member, had been acquitted of the 1988 murder of a fellow gang member. Gonzales has said he is innocent of both killings.

APRIL 22 12:52 A.M.: ‘He Wasn’t a Criminal’ Cesar Torres Salgado, 15, is shot three times in the side from a passing van as he is leaving a Santa Ana party at a South Hickory Street home. By 3 a.m. he is dead. Salgado’s friend, Javier Torres, 18, is shot in the back but survives.

Police and neighbors say the house is a longtime “Lopers” hang-out and is pockmarked with bullets. Neighbors say the Lopers have been feuding for some time with the nearby “Eastsiders.” But friends said Salgado, a Horizon High School student, belonged to a third gang named “Middleside.” His street name was “Night Owl” because he liked to stay up late. But they said he was just a guest at the party, an innocent teen-ager who did not deserve to die.

“He was a home boy, but he wasn’t a criminal,” one said.

APRIL 30 11:15 P.M.: He Dies in a Cousin’s Arms

Rosendo Ibarra, 17, of Anaheim, is gunned down while talking to his girlfriend at a pay telephone in a Garden Grove shopping center parking lot. He is shot twice, once in the head, and dies in the arms of his cousin, Mona Marquez, before help arrives.

Garden Grove police say Ibarra, a construction worker who had been out of work since breaking his leg in February, was a member of the Colonia gang in Stanton. Relatives reported seeing a dark Cadillac circling their neighborhood the night before, and believe the shooting was planned.

David Alan Davis, 22, and Joe David Kehler, 23, both of Anaheim, have been arrested on suspicion of the murder. Both men have been separately charged in drug cases but it is not known whether Ibarra’s killing was drug-related. Police are still seeking several other suspects in the murder.

Ibarra was the father of a year-old daughter named Casandra.

Mona Marquez cried last week as she tried to explain how it felt to hold her cousin as he died. “I don’t know who to hate, but I want something done,” she said.

MAY 11 1:30 A.M.: An ‘Ordinary’ Drive-By

Jesus Gutierrez, 21, of Garden Grove, is killed by gunfire from a passing car as he and a friend stand in front of a house on West Henderson Place in Santa Ana. Witnesses said Gutierrez, who died at the scene, hung around with gang members. Also wounded was Juan Manuel Alcantar, a 25-year-old Santa Ana man who described himself as a former member of the Middleside gang.

A RECORD GANG DEATH TOLL

With at least 17 deaths in the first five months of this year, law enforcement authorities say gang violence is surpassing 1989, when roughly 16 gang-related murders were committed.

DATE PLACE VICTIM/AGE CIRCUMSTANCE Jan. 2 Santa Ana Pedro Perez, 30 Shot; bystander Jan. 5 G. Grove Hector De La Torre, 24 Stabbed; fight Jan. 5 G. Grove Oscar (Tiny) Jiminez, 18 Stabbed; fight Jan. 20 Westiside Javier P. Avila, 22 Shot; fight Feb. 5 Buena Pk. Aurelio Navarette, 20, Shot; drive-by Feb. 23 Santa Ana Jesus Perez, 21 Shot; drive-by Feb. 24 Santa Ana Salvador Villa Arias, 18 Shot; drive-by March 4 G. Grove Ha Huu Dang, 21 Shot; argument March 15 G. Grove Margarito Shot; robbery Alvarado-Robledo, 25 March 19 G. Grove David Eugene Davenport, 31 Shot; argument March 24 Santa Ana Nabor Eustolio Roman, 16 Shot; gun battle April 3 El Modena Martin Lopez Rosiles Jr., 19 Shot; drive-by April 10 Santa Ana Martin Julian Gonzalez, 21 Shot; drive-by April 20 Santa Ana Rojelio M. (Roger) Shot; argument Ochoa, 17 April 22 Santa Ana Cesar Torres Salgado, 15 Shot; drive-by April 30 G. Grove Rosendo Ibarra, 17 Shot; unclear May 12 Santa Ana Jesus Gutierrez, 21 Shot; drive-by

DATE GANG TIES Jan. 2 None Jan. 5 F-Troop Jan. 5 Westside Jan. 20 None Feb. 5 Eastsiders Feb. 23 None Feb. 24 Unclear March 4 None March 15 None March 19 None March 24 Highland April 3 None April 10 Unclear April 20 Unclear April 22 Middleside April 30 Colonia May 12 Middleside

Source: Police, prosecutors, public records, witnesses.