LOCAL : Man Dies After Being Stalked, Shot in the Back in Santa Ana
A young man was stalked by gunmen and fatally shot several times in the back in front of a 7-Eleven store in Santa Ana, police said today.
Manuel Ayala Cortez, 21, was pronounced dead at McFadden Avenue and Bristol Street minutes after the shooting that occurred shortly after midnight, Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.
Investigators are trying to determine the motive for the killing, she said.
Cortez and his uncle had been sitting on a bus bench in front of the 7-Eleven when a car pulled up a short distance away and stopped. When Cortez tried to walk toward the convenience store, two men got out of the car--one of them armed with a handgun--and followed him, Thomas said.
The gunman shot Cortez “several times” in the back. The uncle, Manuel Ayala Valdez, who was sitting on the bench, ran toward his wounded nephew. The gunman then spun around and pointed the weapon at Valdez, Thomas said.
“The gunman pulled the trigger again,” Thomas said. “But he had expended all his ammunition.” The attackers escaped in a car that was last seen speeding west on McFadden Avenue.
Thomas said descriptions of the attackers and their vehicle were not immediately available.
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