New Year’s Violence Leaves 3 Dead, 2 Wounded : Crime: Among the fatalities was a good Samaritan who attempted to quell an argument between motorists. In a street melee, one man was shot in the head and another was severely beaten.

An outbreak of violence ushered in one of the city’s bloodiest New Year’s holidays, leaving three males dead and two others critically wounded, police said Friday.

The violence started on New Year’s Eve with a fatal drive-by shooting. It continued into the early morning hours of New Year’s Day with a fatal shooting of a good Samaritan trying to quell a dispute between motorists, a fatal stabbing of a Laguna Niguel man, and a street melee in which one man was shot and wounded and another was severely beaten about the head.

“It was an unusual night,” said Police Sgt. Brian Collins.

Collins said the string of unrelated homicides and attempted homicides began about 9:30 p.m. Thursday with the drive-by shooting. “That shooting appears gang-related,” he said.

A vehicle drove into the 600 block of North Garfield Street, and someone in the car “exchanged some words” with a 17-year-old boy standing in the street.

Someone in the car then fired at the unidentified young man, hitting him in the chest. Collins said friends rushed the unidentified victim to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The next fatal attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday in the 2200 block of West Anahurst Place, Collins said.

“There was some kind of conflict between two people in two vehicles, and one vehicle started following another vehicle,” Collins said. He said that when the two cars reached the 2200 block of West Anahurst, both drivers got out and started arguing.

Alex Ceballos, 23, who lived in the neighborhood, came up to the motorists and tried to defuse the situation, Collins said. “This young man apparently was trying to help out,” he said.

One of the motorists, however, pulled a gun on Ceballos and shot and killed him, Collins said. Ceballos was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital, Collins said. The gunman escaped in a dark brown Oldsmobile before police arrived.

In the third homicide, a man identified as Albert Collins, 31, of Laguna Niguel was found stabbed to death near the intersection of North Broadway and West 15th Street, police said. Officers found the mortally wounded Collins lying on a sidewalk shortly after 3 a.m. Friday.

“The victim had numerous stab wounds to the upper torso,” said Sgt. Collins, no relation to the victim. “He died as officers were arriving.”

Collins said the two attempted murders occurred during “a street mob scene” shortly after midnight Thursday in the 2800 block of North Bristol Street.

Officers were summoned to the scene, but the mob had dispersed, Collins said. Officers found two young men seriously wounded. Neither man was identified.

One of the victims had been shot in the head, and the other had been beaten over the head “with some kind of a blunt instrument,” Collins said. The two were taken to local hospitals, and both were in critical condition, he said.