2 Shootings in Santa Ana Leave Man, Girl Hurt

Police sought two assailants Thursday in the shootings of a teen-age girl and a 22-year-old man that occurred about a mile apart. Investigators said the girl’s shooting was apparently gang related and was not linked to the second incident.

In the first incident, a group of teen-agers was heading south in a car on South Raitt Street near Santa Ana Valley High School about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday when a second car pulled up behind and then alongside them, said Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen A. Haacker.

She gave this account of what followed:

Within seconds, someone in the rear car pulled out a gun, leaned out a window and fired a shot into the lead car. The bullet shattered the rear window and wounded passenger Martha Anaya, 17, who was taken to Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana by the car’s driver.

Anaya was later transferred to UCI Medical Center in Orange where she underwent surgery Thursday morning. She was listed in critical condition but was expected to survive, hospital spokeswoman Fran Tardiff said.

Haacker said that detectives were able to find only one witness to the shooting, and added that information was sketchy, including how many people were in each car.

“It was dark, and the witness did not get a good look at the cars,” Haacker said. Investigators have determined that the shooting was gang related.

The second shooting occurred at 9:15 p.m., Haacker said, and was not determined to be related to gang activity.

In that incident, Benjamin Rudolph English, 22, was walking the 2000 block of West Myrtle Street, several blocks from his home, when he apparently was accosted by a gunman who was also on foot.

For an unknown reason, the unidentified gunman shot English in the pelvis. English was taken to UCI Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition, Tardiff said.