SANTA ANA : Pair Arrested in Drive-By Shooting

Police arrested two men Wednesday in connection with a drive-by shooting that left two people hospitalized.

Rene Cerna Romero, 22, and Pedro Jimenez Perez, 25, were standing in a small community park on the 2100 block of West McFadden Avenue when they were wounded in a volley of gunfire shortly after 10 a.m., Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.

Thomas said investigators do not believe the shooting was gang-related.

Romero was shot in the right leg and Jimenez was hit in the right buttocks from bullets fired by a small-caliber handgun, Thomas said. They were taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where both were listed in good condition, she said.

Thomas said witnesses reported seeing a brown-and-white full-sized pickup with a sofa in the back approach Jerome Park. Without warning, one of the occupants fired several shots, wounding the two victims, Thomas said.

Officer John Douthit, who heard a description of the truck on a police broadcast, spotted a truck that matched the description pulling up to a house on the 100 block of South Gunther Street.

The officer arrested Joel L. Vargas. 24, and Enrique A. Godinez, 25, both of Santa Ana, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon as they were getting out of the truck, Thomas said. Police said that they found a handgun in the truck.