SANTA ANA : Boy, 16, Dies After Being Shot in Back

A 16-year-old boy who told his sister a few weeks ago he wanted to put gang life behind him was killed in an apparent gang-related shooting as he stood in the driveway of his home, police said Tuesday.

Miguel Ventura of Santa Ana may have never seen his attacker, who apparently stepped up behind him without saying anything and shot him three times in the back before running away, about 9:35 p.m. Monday in the 1700 block of West 7th Street, police and family members said.

The gunman, described by witnesses as in his late teens, remained at large Tuesday.

Ventura collapsed in the opened garage of his home. His 21-year-old brother, Juan, rushed him to Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana, where he died, police said.

Both the victim and the gunman were believed to be gang members, but the motive for the shooting was not known, Lt. Bob Helton said. Family members said they did not know why anyone would want to kill the youth. He was the youngest of four brothers and a sister and a sophomore at Santa Ana High School who liked to study art and calligraphy, his brothers said.

“One of the things he wanted to do was get out of gangs before it was too late,” said his brother Abel, 23. Abel recalled his youngest brother saying he “was getting into too many problems.”

Miguel Ventura was once sent to Orange County Juvenile Hall in Orange after police discovered him in a stolen car, said Juan Ventura.

Miguel Ventura planned to travel later this year with one of his brothers to Michoacan, Mexico, to visit his grandparents, family members said. Instead, he will be buried Thursday. The family declined to say where for fear that rival gang members might attend and cause problems.

“I guess the worst part is they shot him in the back. He didn’t expect it or anything,” Juan Ventura said.