Drive-By Shooting Kills Two : Crime: Two occupants in van heading to a South Bay swap meet are killed when 16 shots are fired from a passing car.

Two people on their way to a South Bay swap meet were killed Sunday afternoon when a motorist opened fire on their van as it came to a stop at a National City intersection, police said.

The barrage of 16 shots, which slammed into the side of the van, struck and killed a 20-year-old man as well as a 17-year-old teen-ager before the other vehicle sped off.

“We don’t really know anything more about the suspect vehicle other than that it was small and blue,” said Officer Rudy Rudershausen. “We don’t even know how many people were in the car. Apparently, nothing was said by the assailant before the shots were fired.”

Authorities identified the victims as Baltazar Pinal Luna, 20, of El Cajon and Ismael Aceves, 17, of San Diego. Both were passengers in the back of the van. The driver and a third passenger, reported to be 14 or 15 years old, were not identified.

Both survivors were being interviewed late Sunday by National City police.

An investigator for the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office said both victims died after being taken to UC San Diego Medical Center.

Rudershausen said the incident occurred about 3 p.m. as the victims were driving to a swap meet in National City. As their van, which had the word “Roybertos” painted across its side, came to a stop at the intersection of 30th Street and D Avenue, near Sweetwater High School, the suspect vehicle pulled alongside and opened fire.

“Sixteen shots were fired into the van from a 9-millimeter handgun,” he said.

After the shots were fired, the panicked van driver drove several miles into San Diego, to the 3800 block of Beta Street, before police officers there were notified of the shooting, Rudershausen said.

Investigators are probing the shooting as a gang-related crime.

“Right now, it’s being investigated as a gang-related shooting,” Rudershausen said. “That hasn’t been proven yet. But it’s an educated guess. That’s the way we’re looking at it.”