ANAHEIM : 1 Dead, 1 Wounded in Alley Shooting

In an incident that police say may be gang-related, one man was fatally shot and another was wounded in an alley of a crime-plagued neighborhood.

Investigators were still trying to identify the dead man late Monday. The dead man’s friend, Marcelo Tellas, 20, of Anaheim, suffered gunshot wounds in the leg and groin and was listed in stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The two men were attacked Sunday night in an alley behind Tellas’ apartment in the 600 block of Pauline Street, police said.

Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said two youths were seen fleeing from the area after the shooting. Both Tellas and the dead man are believed to be “gang associates,” Hedgpeth said, adding that Tellas was not cooperating with the investigation.

Hedgpeth said several police units responded to a report of a shooting in the alley about 10:10 p.m. The unidentified victim was already dead when officers arrived, while Tellas was lying in a pool of blood.

Tellas “was lying on the ground calling for help,” said a neighbor who declined to give his name. “There was blood all over and (Tellas) was crying.”

Both men were shot twice with a large-caliber pistol, police said.

Neighbors said they did not know Tellas well because he had moved into the apartment building only a few weeks ago.

Some residents said they heard the gunshots but did not know that there had been casualties, adding that shootings and violence in the neighborhood are common.

“It’s quiet during the day, but at night all hell breaks loose,” said Ruth Griffin, who has lived on Pauline Street with her two children for the last five months. “People try to sell you drugs, there are car chases, helicopter patrols . . . everything.”

An official of the Anaheim Interfaith Shelter said she recently requested additional police patrols on the street because of high-speed chases in the narrow alleyway.

“If a child is playing in the alley, he or she could be killed because the cars fly through here,” said the official, who requested anonymity. “These guys chase one another with cars and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.”

The neighborhood has “more incidents of crime than the majority of other areas in the city,” Hedgpeth said. “It’s a very high-density area with a low socioeconomic clientele.”