Pier Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 1 Wounded : Violence: The Newport Beach incident occurred during an argument between gangs from Santa Ana and Ontario, police say. One suspect is being held.

One man was killed and another wounded early Saturday at the Newport Beach pier during an argument between gangs from Santa Ana and Ontario, police said.

It was the third homicide in this seaside community this year. There were none last year, although a similar shooting a year ago near the pier injured two people.

In Saturday’s shooting, Enrique Morales, 18, of Ontario was arrested on suspicion of murder as he tried to leave the parking lot next to the pier, police Sgt. Andy Gonis said. Morales was in a pickup carrying four others from his Ontario-based gang, the sergeant said.

Morales remained in custody Saturday at the Newport Beach Jail.

Police identified the slain victim as Jorge Rico, 32, of Santa Ana.

The wounded man, Jose Ceja, 23, of Garden Grove, was being treated at a hospital, Gonis said. He would not name the hospital for safety reasons. Ceja and Rico were among 15 people in a 40-foot rented limousine.

The shooting took place near the bathrooms and “we think it was a coincidence that they were there at the same time, and that the meeting wasn’t set up,” Gonis said.

Shots rang out about 1:30 a.m. in the circular courtyard at the foot of the pier, preceded by a “brief encounter,” he said.

“The lot is busy at that time of night because the bars haven’t closed yet,” Gonis said. “The beach draws a lot of people, but we had no previous contacts or incidents with these particular groups.”

He said several firearms were seized, but police declined to describe them.

Police on Saturday questioned potential witnesses and were a noticeable presence on the beachfront.

About 1 p.m. Saturday, with the beach crowded with sunbathers and the parking lot full, three officers stopped several motorists for questioning. A 40-foot black limousine was halted and emptied of its 10 passengers, some of whom were ticketed for poking their heads through the vehicle’s sunroof and waving red bandannas.

Officer John Joyce said it was a routine traffic stop unrelated to the shooting.

Joyce said there has not been any noticeable increase in violence recently.

“We have a high percentage of bars here,” he said. “I think we have six within a two-block area. Mostly we get alcohol-related crime--driving under the influence, drunk in public, some types of gang activity, especially since the extension of the (Costa Mesa) freeway is now sending more people down this way.”

The last major violence, Joyce said, was a double shooting on July 4, 1992, near the same spot.

At Blackie’s by the Sea, an establishment not far from Saturday’s early-morning gunfire, patrons crowded the bar. “We don’t see this type of thing, except for last year’s incident, which happened right out in front here,” manager Les Bobbitt said. “But it’s getting worse every year. . . . Gangs are coming into the area.”

Jose Navarro, a Camp Pendleton Marine, said he sees gang members occasionally but does not think much about them. “Frankly,” he said, “they’re usually just out in the water, swimming--it doesn’t bother me.”

Cindy Becker of Highland, near San Bernardino, stood in the circular courtyard at the foot of the pier, where four small, orange-painted circles marked the spots where police found shell casings from Saturday’s shooting.

“I hadn’t heard anything about a murder,” said Becker, who visits on weekends and each August brings her children for a few weeks to a rented house two blocks away.

“We didn’t know about the shooting last year either,” she said. “All of this makes me real worried.”