Pair Die in Hail of Shots : Homicide: Drive-by shooting claims lives of man and his nephew chatting in garage.

After checking on her husband and his friends early Thursday, Diana Chacon said good night and went back to bed, shutting the door on their laughter.

Minutes later, the laughter was replaced by gunfire and cries of pain.

“I heard the screaming,” said Chacon, 21, holding back tears as she recalled the grisly scene. “They were yelling for me to call the police.”

The young woman’s husband, Abel Chacon, and his nephew, Saul Chacon, were fatally wounded, victims of a drive-by shooting. Both men were 23 years old.

Police do not believe that the shooting was gang-related, since neither man belonged to a gang, said police spokeswoman Maureen Haacker. The department’s homicide unit is investigating the killings rather than the gang unit, which normally handles drive-by shootings.

The incident becomes the 42nd homicide investigation in Santa Ana this year. The number of deaths is actually higher, because some cases, like Thursday’s shooting, involve more than one victim. In 1990, there were a record 53 homicide cases, with 28 of them occurring by October of 1990.

“We don’t know why we are having so many (homicides),” Haacker said. “There’s no rhyme or reason for these acts of violence.”

The latest case occurred as Abel and Saul Chacon and two friends sat talking in the garage of Abel’s home in the 5300 block of West 4th Street at about 1:30 a.m.

Just before the shooting, Diana Chacon had been sleeping in the bedroom. “I woke up and he (Abel) was not in bed,” she said.

Hearing voices in the garage, she went outside and found the four men drinking beer and joking with each other. The garage’s large door was left propped half open.

Shortly after returning to bed, six gunshots shattered the silence.

“I froze in bed,” she said.

Witnesses said a dark-colored compact car drove slowly past the garage. Someone inside the car yelled, and opened fire. The car then sped away.

Abel was hit in the chest. Saul was struck in the head, police said. Stray bullets lodged in the garage door and the door leading into the small, brown stucco house.

As Saul Chacon lay in a pool of blood in the garage, his uncle Abel managed to make his way back into the house. Diana Chacon said she tried desperately to comfort Abel until help arrived.

Both victims were taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange for treatment, police said. Abel Chacon died at 3:40 a.m., police said. Saul Chacon was kept alive on life support systems until 6:30 a.m.

Family members who came to console Diana Chacon and Abel’s parents were frustrated and angry about the violence gripping many neighborhoods in Santa Ana.

“When is this going to end?” asked Diana Chacon’s mother, Julie Magnante. “I’m afraid for my daughter.”

While police searched for suspects, members of the large Chacon family gathered at Saul Chacon’s apartment near the Civic Center and the nearby home of Abel’s parents.

Abel’s mother, Maria, explained that he was the youngest of seven children. Saul Chacon was the youngest of 10 children.

“He was such a nice person,” said Abel’s 16-year-old cousin, Renato Chacon. “He liked to joke a lot.”

Diana Chacon said that she and Abel were childhood sweethearts who had weathered many difficult times together. They had one daughter, Angelina Marie, who is 14 months old.

Abel and Saul Chacon had once worked together on construction projects for Placentia-based Performance Concrete. But four months ago, Abel suffered a back injury at work. The couple have been living on his state disability checks ever since.

Their truck was recently repossessed, she said. But the couple believed that better times were just around the corner, Diana Chacon said. Her husband was just about to begin working again, and they had been making arrangements to get the truck back from the car dealership.

On Saturday the family was planning to throw a large party for Abel’s 24th birthday. They were going to roast a pig and toast what appeared to be a change in luck, Diana said.

“We’ve been through so much together,” Diana Chacon said. “And now he’s gone.”

Homicides

Santa Ana is heading for a record number of homicide cases in a year, outpacing last year by nearly 2 to 1. The homicide cases fall into eight general categories.

Category Number Disputes/arguments 12 Narcotics 7 Gangs 6 Domestic violence 5 Robbery 5 Unknown, no facts available 3 to classify Narcotics/robbery 2 Other, includes accidental 2 or officer involved Total cases for 1991 42

Source: Santa Ana Police Department