SANTA ANA : Suspect Wounded in Drive-By Arrests

A suspected gang member was grazed by a bullet fired by a Santa Ana police officer Wednesday, officials said.

The 17-year-old Anaheim youth was wounded about 12:30 p.m. at 5th Street and Harbor Boulevard when he tried to elude police, who were searching for suspects in connection with a drive-by shooting that left two Garden Grove teen-agers with gunshot wounds in the legs.

The Anaheim youth was treated at the scene for the minor injury and taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder along with four other suspected gang members.

“One suspect began to reach into his waistband and the officer, fearing for his life, fired one shot, striking the suspect in the left arm,” Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said. Police said two other suspects involved in the incident were still at large.

The victims were Michael Allen Bower, 19, and a 16-year-old youth, both from Garden Grove. Bower was treated and released at the AMI Medical Center of Garden Grove; the 16-year-old remained in stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange, police said.

The suspects were spotted riding in a pickup truck and stopped in the 300 block of North Harbor Boulevard by Santa Ana police about 12:35 a.m. Wednesday after a description of their vehicle was broadcast. Several people then jumped out of the back of the truck, while the driver and a passenger fled in the truck. Officers pursued the running suspects.

“They are all part of a rival gang with the people that were shot,” Garden Grove Police Investigator Mike Hanfield said.

A .38-caliber revolver was found at the scene of the shooting.

Arrested in connection with the drive-by shooting, which occurred about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in the 12500 block of Sunswept Avenue were two adults, Jason Tovar, 21, of Santa Ana and Jerry Felix Cardona, 18, of Garden Grove, and three juveniles, one 17-year-old from Anaheim and a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, both of Santa Ana.