Teen Shot to Death in Car, Rider Wounded : Drive-by: Students walking home see daylight slaying near Saddleback High School in Santa Ana.

A teen-ager driving near Saddleback High School was shot in the head Wednesday by someone in a passing car and died at the scene. The attackers remain at large.

Police Lt. Robert Helton said the slaying appeared to be gang-related but did not involve students from the school.

The slain driver of the car was Gilbert Martinez, 17, of Santa Ana.

His passenger, 22-year-old Antonio Orozco of Santa Ana, was shot in the neck and shoulder and is in stable condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. Orozco was conscious and able to talk to investigators at the scene.

“He told us the other car pulled up alongside them and just started shooting,” Helton said. The wounded driver continued for several more blocks, although his front and rear tires had been blown out, before coming to a stop in the middle of the street.

The other car, a blue Honda Accord that witnesses said had four to five male passengers, drove away and those people remained at large.

The 3:08 p.m. shooting occurred less than 30 minutes after classes at Saddleback let out for the day. More than a dozen students who were walking home from school apparently saw the shooting and many were questioned by police at the scene for more than 90 minutes.

A 14-year-old female student said: “We were walking down the street and we saw a car drive up beside another car and start shooting. I heard about four or five shots, then the other car drove off.”

Mike George, a nearby resident, said he drove by the shooting scene less than a minute after it occurred.

“It was shocking because there were a lot of kids standing out on the sidewalk and it was in broad daylight,” George said. “The car was stopped in the middle of the street and I saw someone inside with blood on his neck.”

More than two hours after the shooting, two males who said they were members of a Santa Ana gang approached the scene and began crying when police told them that the driver of the car had been killed.

“He’s my homeboy,” one of the gang members said as he leaned against a street sign and choked back tears. “This is the first guy from our neighborhood to be killed. I’ve known him all of my life. He was a real good friend. A darn good friend.”

The gang member would not speculate on who might be responsible but said: “No one liked our gang.”

Another gang member slumped down against a brick wall and sobbed loudly as police confirmed that their friend was dead.

Police blocked off Flower Street from Segerstrom Avenue to MacArthur Boulevard for several hours as they conducted their investigation in the middle of the street.

A steady stream of curious neighbors peered over police lines and discussed the shooting with each other. Many expressed surprise and said drive-by shootings are not common in their quiet south Santa Ana neighborhood.

“It’s a nice neighborhood,” said lifelong resident Tonya Murray. “I really hope this is just an isolated incident.”

The shooting is the first to take place near or at an Orange County high school campus this year. Last fall, more than a half-dozen shootings occurred near high school campuses in Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, Lake Forest, Irvine and Santa Ana.

Times staff writer Eric Young contributed to this story.