Woman Killed by Bullet Intended for Someone Else

A 32-year-old woman who worked at a fast-food restaurant to help support relatives in Mexico died Thursday after a suspected gang member shot her while aiming at somebody else, police said.

Enedina Briones was shot in the head as she walked home in the 200 block of South Lyon Street after she bought ice cream at a neighborhood market Wednesday night. She was walking with three other people.

The four people walked between two young men who were shouting at each other from opposite sides of the street, police said.

One of the shouters pulled out a handgun and fired once, striking Briones before she or anyone with her could flee, police said. The gunman and his intended target had run away by the time police arrived.

A man who was walking with Briones, whom police identified as her husband, told police he recognized the gunman as a 16-year-old neighbor. Police arrested the teen-ager at his home shortly after the 7:30 p.m. shooting, Lt. Robert Helton said. The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was being held in Orange County Juvenile Hall in Orange, police said.

Investigators were looking for the second young man involved in the argument and the handgun used in the shooting.

Investigators, who said they do not know why the youths were shouting at each other, said Briones was an innocent victim.

“These are very tragic situations,” Helton said. “They were just out enjoying the evening and, as circumstances would have it, they are involved in something beyond their control and the people responsible have no concern for others. It does happen, and when it does it’s really tragic.”

A 22-year-old woman who was walking with Briones at the time said: “I didn’t see what was going on other than I heard a shot and she was on the ground. It happened and I started crying.” The woman declined to give her name for fear of retribution from gang members.

The woman, who met Briones at their job at a McDonald’s restaurant in Irvine, said Briones moved to Orange County about two years ago from Mexico. Briones had been working at the restaurant for about nine months and sent some of the money she earned back to her family and teen-age daughter, said Michael Morgan, the restaurant manager.

Police said that, when Briones and the others realized they were between the arguing men, they apparently tried to turn and walk away. The gunman was about 50 feet from Briones when he opened fire from the east side of the street, near an apartment complex.

Paramedics took Briones to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she died about 12:40 a.m., police said.

“It seems everywhere something can happen,” said Mostafa Matin, who owns the convenience store where Briones bought the ice cream. “In this area, there is some activity like prostitution and this type of stuff, but I didn’t expect a shooting next to the store.”

Briones’ shooting comes about three months after a toddler was killed during a drive-by shooting on North Garfield Street. A gunman in a speeding car shot 2-year-old Esteban Zavala Martinez of Santa Ana.