2 Youths Wounded in Drive-By Shooting

A shotgun blast from a passing vehicle hit two teen-agers in the face, critically injuring one of them, police reported Friday.

Police said the shooting occurred at 9:50 p.m. Thursday in the 600 block of South Shelley Street. They said the incident was gang-related.

A 17-year-old Santa Ana juvenile, who was not identified because of his age, was taken to an undisclosed hospital and reported in critical condition, police said. A 18-year-old who was standing with him at the time of the shooting, identified as David Anthony Tiscareno of Santa Ana, was hospitalized in stable condition, officers said. Both suffered severe facial wounds from the shotgun blast.

The two youths were standing in the front yard of 614 S. Shelley St., police said. Only one shot was fired from the vehicle, but officers noted that a shotgun blast can send pellets flying over a large area.

Maureen Haacker, public information officer for the city, said Friday that the name of the hospital where the two teen-agers were taken was not released for security reasons. She said this is frequently done in gang-related incidents.

Haacker said that few details of the shooting were available.

“The victims were standing in the front yard, and a vehicle drove up,” Haacker said. “There was one shot from a shotgun, and it hit both victims in the face, injuring them quite seriously.”

Haacker said an updated tally on the number of drive-by shootings in the city was not available Friday. Earlier this year, an anti-gang specialist in the Police Department said that there had been 166 drive-by shootings in the first eight months of this year.

Police have estimated that there are about 7,000 gang members in the city and 60 active gangs.