PLACENTIA : Slain Man May Be 19th Gang Victim

A 19-year-old Anaheim man who was fatally shot while driving his pickup truck in Placentia may have been the county’s 19th victim of gang-related slayings, police said Monday.

Victor Hernandez died at UCI Medical Center about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, about five hours after he was shot in the head near the intersection of Melrose Street and Orangethorpe Avenue.

A 15-year-old boy who was in Hernandez’s pickup truck received minor gunshot wounds. He was treated at Placentia-Linda Community Hospital and released.

Placentia Detective Jerry Zamora said Hernandez was shot by occupants of another vehicle.

The Placentia shooting occurred hours after a La Habra High School senior was fatally stabbed in another gang-related incident. Augustin Acosta Ruiz, 18, of La Habra was pronounced dead at the scene after he was stabbed several times as he walked near his home in the 700 block of South Euclid Street.

The stabbing occurred around 3 a.m. Sunday when Ruiz was confronted by youths in a brown Nissan pickup. Police said Ruiz was chased and ran for his life by dodging between houses on East Pacific Street. But his attackers caught up with him and stabbed him several times, police said.

A La Habra police spokesman said investigators executed search warrants at several locations in the city on Monday, but arrests are still pending.

Orange County has experienced a record number of gang-related deaths this year, fast surpassing the 16 recorded for all of 1989.