Ex-Suspect in 1992 Slaying Killed in Car : Violence: Man jailed in mistaken-identity shooting of teacher’s aide is gunned down in apparent gang attack.

A 22-year-old Santa Ana man suspected in last year’s slaying of a teacher’s aide was himself shot to death in his car Friday afternoon by someone who apparently had been waiting for him, police said.

Artemio Rios was hit once in the head about 3 p.m. in the 2900 block of South Flower Street as he was preparing to make a left turn at Segerstrom Avenue, said Lt. Bob Chavez.

A car with four men drove from the curb at the intersection and pulled beside Rios’ 1984 Cadillac, police said. A gunman fired about six times at Rios’ car, hitting him once, police said.

Rios was alone in the car, which rolled slightly forward into the intersection but came to a stop without hitting other cars.

The assailants sped south along Flower Street and remained at large Friday night, police said.

Paramedics took Rios to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he died, Chavez said.

Homicide detectives said they did not know why Rios was shot and did not know if his slaying was connected to the Feb. 3, 1992, slaying of Joel Davalos, 21. Davalos’ wife, Sylvia, was seriously wounded in the same shooting.

“At this point, because we don’t know who the suspects are, we don’t know if they are related,” Chavez said.

The Davaloses were shot in a tragic case of mistaken identity, police said. The gunmen who opened fire in their back yard apparently believed the couple were rival gang members, authorities said.

Rios was arrested after the shooting along with another man. A third suspect was charged but remained at large.

But in August a municipal judge dismissed murder charges against Rios and his alleged accomplice for a second time because of insufficient evidence.

Investigators were treating the Friday shooting as gang-related, Chavez said.

Police described the car with the assailants as a bluish-gray Toyota, possibly a Corolla.