ORANGE : Man Shot Dead in Parking Lot at Work

Manuel Martinez, 32, of Placentia died in the parking lot of Plaza Plastics Corp., shot to death shortly after his shift ended at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Police said they have no motive for the slaying.

Martinez and several co-workers were in the parking lot when the husband of one of the co-workers approached Martinez and the two men started talking, police said.

Suddenly, the assailant struck Martinez across the face with the handle of a small-caliber handgun, then shot him several times, according to Orange Police Lt. Timm Browne.

Police arrested Reyes Sanchez, 24, on suspicion of murder three hours after the shooting in a restaurant parking lot three miles from the shooting site.

Witnesses told police that Martinez had been walking beside Angela Corona, who is married to Sanchez. After the shooting, Sanchez ordered his wife into his car and they drove off, according to police.

Angela Corona, 21, was not with Sanchez when he was arrested. She and her three children were found later at a relative’s home in Anaheim, Browne said. Investigators do not think Corona was involved in the shooting, Browne said.

Homicide investigators and family members said they did not know if Sanchez and Martinez had met before. Police said interviews with workers at Plaza Plastics indicated that Martinez and Corona were not romantically involved.

In Martinez’s south Placentia apartment on Friday, friends and relatives said they were searching for a reason behind the slaying.

“We want to know the cause,” said longtime friend Jesus Valencia, who met Martinez when they worked together at the coat hanger factory in the mid-1980s. “Maybe the crime was a mistake,” he said. “At this time we don’t know what happened.”

A native of the coastal Mexican state of Guerrero, Martinez supported his wife and three young boys with the money he sent regularly to Mexico, Valencia said.

Martinez planned to visit his wife and three children in December, Valencia said. Instead, his wife now plans to come north to attend his funeral, he said.