Man Shot in Leg at South Coast Plaza; Motive Unknown : Violence: Youth fired two rounds before fleeing. Eighteen-year-old Garden Grove man says attacker asked him about his car before pulling a gun in parking lot.

A Garden Grove man was shot in the leg Saturday afternoon in a parking lot at South Coast Plaza, police reported.

John Robert Ferguson, 18, was taken to Hoag Hospital for treatment and later released.

Costa Mesa police said Ferguson had parked his car on the eastern edge of the South Coast Plaza complex near the white pedestrian bridge and was walking toward Sears with a 17-year-old friend about 2:30 p.m. when they were confronted by a youth they did not know.

According to a witness, the youth asked the pair about their car, pulled out a gun and shot Ferguson in the leg. Investigators said they were unsure of the motive for the attack.

Ferguson and his friend ran toward the mall, zigzagging through the parking lot and ducking behind cars, Sgt. Tom Curtis said. The gunman shot at least once more, and police said officers found the spent round about 100 yards away on the brick tiles in front of Birraporetti’s, an Italian restaurant.

The assailant then ran east to Bristol Street and jumped into a 1980s gold, four-door Oldsmobile Cutlass with oversized tires driven off by a woman, Curtis said. There were no arrests and police said the investigation is continuing.

Spots of blood marked a trail that Ferguson took as he hopped to the mall’s sidewalk. He finally collapsed between Sears and Birraporetti’s, police said.

The two young men had gone to the mall to shop for shoes because one of them had just gotten a new job, according a man who heard the shooting and said he spoke with Ferguson’s friend afterward.

The man said he had seen the assailant talking with the two friends, but didn’t realize anything was wrong.

“I thought the guys were just kids who were messing around,” said Kevin, 28, a Costa Mesa man who did not want his last name used. “I heard what sounded like two M-80s--they didn’t sound like gunshots.”

Kevin said he often goes by the mall, and went there Saturday to shop for clothes after taking in a horror movie. “You’re not safe, no matter where you go these days,” Kevin said.

“All I can do is say a little prayer every day,” he added.

Saturday afternoon, police officers questioned Ferguson’s 17-year-old friend, who was still shaking his head in disbelief at the shooting as he clutched a black San Francisco Giants cap and sat cross-legged atop a concrete bollard.

Officers then drove the teen-ager to Hoag to visit Ferguson.

Some shoppers were surprised that South Coast Plaza was the stage for a shooting.

“This is a very posh area,” said Dante Ocotorena, 29, of Anaheim Hills, who visited the mall to shop for his baby daughter, Madison.

His wife, Juli Ocotorena, 25, said she did not find it very hard to believe, because many youths congregate at malls.

“This made me look around and think about the people around us,” Juli Ocotorena said, tucking her tiny, 13-day-old daughter into the couple’s car.

“There’s so many dirt bags around these days,” she said.