3 Shot Down in Attack Near Little Saigon : Violence: One man hit outside coffee shop, then two others are chased and wounded nearby. Police seek gunmen.

Three young men were gunned down, two as they ran, in an attack that began outside a coffee shop Wednesday night.

Police Capt. Bill De Nisi said a shot was fired at 7:45 p.m., possibly from a passing car, at a group of youths in front of the Cafe Gia Hoi in a strip mall on Edinger Avenue near Magnolia Street on the fringe of Little Saigon.

One man was hit, and others ran, with their attackers in pursuit, Sgt. Paul A. Sorrell said. About a block away, in a residential tract, the attackers, again possibly in a car, gunned down the second victim and, soon thereafter, the third.

At least two were reported in critical condition.

Angel Ayala, 32, of Anaheim Hills said he had just pulled into the strip mall for a pizza and gotten out of his car when he heard the first shot from in front of the coffee shop. A dozen young men were milling outside the shop, he said.

As the shot was fired, one man fell and the rest ran around the back of the strip mall, he said.

Ayala ran into the pizzeria, grabbed a towel and went to the aid of the shooting victim.

He cradled the youth in his arms.

“ ‘Where am I shot?’ ” The young man asked, Ayala said. Ayala saw that he was shot in the neck just above the breast bone, and told him, “Don’t move. The more you move, the more you bleed.”

At that point, the first police officer arrived, Ayala said. Ayala looked down the strip mall and saw that the youths who had fled had re-emerged from behind the mall at the other end, and they took off running down the street.

Ayala said a group of about eight youths were followed a few seconds later by a group of four, apparently in pursuit.

Ayala said it appeared to him to be a gang battle, “fighting each other for territory . . . it doesn’t make sense.”

Police said one victim was shot in the head, one in the neck and the third in the foot.

One was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana about 8:30 p.m. by paramedics and underwent surgery, according to hospital personnel. Another victim was listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange. The third was taken to an undisclosed hospital.

Police said they were looking for five males, all apparently teen-agers, armed with at least one 9-millimeter gun. They remained at large Wednesday night and police were looking for a red Toyota Celica.

The victims, who have not been identified, appeared to range in age from their teens to early 20s.

Police from both Fountain Valley and Westminster responded to the shootings, because the site is on the border of the cities.

Lt. Dale Herzog of the Fountain Valley police said, “At 7:45 we had numerous calls of shots fired in the area of Magnolia and Edinger.”

She said police found one young man on the sidewalk when they arrived. The other two victims were discovered near Sweetleaf Circle and Wintergreen Circle.

It wasn’t immediately known if the shootings were gang-related.

Times staff writer Leslie Berkman contributed to this story.

Triple Shooting 1. One man was gunned down Wednesday night outside a coffee shop after a confrontation. 2. Two friends of the victim, who ran from the attackers, were shot within a block of each other.