Brothers, 4 and 7, Wounded During Gangs’ Shootout : Violence: Boys are caught in cross-fire while playing outside their home near Disneyland. The longtime trouble spot is increasingly dangerous.

Two young brothers were recovering from gunshot wounds Wednesday after getting caught in the cross-fire of a gun battle that erupted between rival gangs in Anaheim’s troubled Jeffrey-Lynne neighborhood, located in the shadow of Disneyland.

The victims, ages 4 and 7, were playing in front of their apartment in the 1200 block of West Lynne Avenue when the shooting began at about 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, said Anaheim police Lt. Vince Howard.

“Shots were ringing out and the two little boys had taken shelter between two cars that were parked in the street but they got hit anyway,” Howard said.

Residents, property owners and police say the neighborhood is becoming increasingly violent with frequent shootings and gang activity that is holding the neighborhood hostage in a grip of intimidation.

Although most gang shootings in Orange County this year have involved teen-agers, it’s rare that children so young get hit by gunfire.

The older boy, Sebastian Roman, was hit by a bullet that broke his leg; his younger brother, Serafin, was hit in the hand by a bullet. Both were being treated at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

About five hours after the shooting, police arrested three reputed gang members from Garden Grove in connection with the shooting.

Two are 17 years old and were being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall; the third is 18-year-old Marcus Kuryliw, who was held on $250,000 bail at Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder.

About 10 gang members from the area were standing in the street when the Garden Grove gang members drove up and reportedly flashed gang signs at the group, police said.

“The group on foot started in the direction of the car when the car backed up and started shooting at them,” Howard said. “As the car was leaving, shots continued to ring out and that’s when the boys were hit.”

Jesus Garcia, 15, said he was standing with fellow Jeffrey Street gang members when the shooting occurred.

“It was a low-riding, white Caprice Classic,” Garcia said. “They were driving down the street real slow. . . . My homeboys didn’t recognize the car and started running (toward) them.”

As the gunfire began, “everybody went to the ground,” Garcia said. The car then fled, he added.

James Munoz, standing with Garcia and about half a dozen other gang members Wednesday afternoon, said the occupants in the car didn’t identify themselves and were sloppy about the drive-by.

Munoz, 15, said it is considered cowardice to shoot without identifying your gang affiliation and to shoot into a crowd and hit young children.

The victims’ father, Serafin Roman, 37, said he was inside the home and ran out when the shooting started. Roman said he and his family moved to Anaheim about nine weeks ago from Mexico and now plans to return.

The five-block neighborhood, which has about 4,000 residents, has long been a trouble spot for law enforcement and known as one of the toughest neighborhoods in town.

Most of its residents have low incomes and the neighborhood is dominated by unskilled laborers who are the backbone of the city’s biggest and best-known industry--hotel maids, dishwashers, janitors, restaurant workers, gardeners and others.

“It’s not a transient neighborhood,” said Steve Swaim, the city’s community services superintendent. “People there work hard and most have lived there for years.”

Swaim said the neighborhood has improved since 1989 when it was plagued with rampant gangs, prostitution, burglary and violent crimes. He said several policing and community service programs have helped make the area safer.

“It has changed dramatically over the last three or four years,” he said. “We hope we have done enough work to make people feel safe in their neighborhood and the quality of life there is better than it once was.”

But for those who live in the Jeffrey-Lynne neighborhood, the threat of gangs and the violence associated with them is not uncommon.

“This happens all the time,” said Alexandra Rosales, 11. “We know not to come out at night. You have to be careful.”

“Sometimes (the gang members) drive by and shoot and sometimes they are just running around on the streets doing their shooting,” said Rosales.

To Len Spivak, an owner of an apartment complex on the corner of Jeffrey and Lynne avenues, the gang members are holding the neighborhood hostage.

He said they “intimidate” many of his tenants, who pay about $525 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. The residents, he said, often fear for their lives and property.

“You don’t ever park a car out on the street,” said Spivak, who was out visiting his tenants Wednesday. “These people (gang members) will slash the tires on your car and steal your radios. I hate what they do to the good people in this neighborhood.”

Spivak said crime has steadily increased since a community action policing unit left the area about a year ago. He said the officer who walked the beat in the neighborhood helped apartment owners and tenants work together to thwart the gang’s influence in the area.

Harald Martin, the officer who patrolled the Jeffrey-Lynne community, said he was upset by Tuesday night’s shooting.

“A couple of inches either way and it could have been two dead boys instead,” Martin said.

Martin said things in the neighborhood could turn around if the police, residents and apartment owners worked as a team.

He said that by the time he left, most of the drug dealing and about 50% to 60% of the gang members had been removed or pushed from the area. Unfortunately, he said, both the drugs and gang members are moving back.

The program Martin worked for was funded by a federal grant. That grant ran out a year ago and the department has been unable to find enough money to start it up again, he said.

While dozens of teen-agers have been wounded or killed in drive-by attacks in the county this year, officials said it is unusual for young children to become victims.

Last February, a 2-year-old Santa Ana boy being carried in his father’s arms was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting.

“The gang members don’t care who is standing there,” Lt. Howard said. “It doesn’t stop them.”