1 Dead in Gang Ambush : Girlfriend Wounded, 2 Children Hurt in Car Riddled With Bullets

In a shooting brazen even for gang warfare, a young couple were ambushed as they drove up to the security gate of their apartment complex with their two children late Tuesday night, an assault that left one man dead and his girlfriend wounded, police said.

More than a dozen shots from semi-automatic weapons fired by at least two gunmen pierced the car driven by Mario Antonio Reyes, 20. The two children, seated in the back seat, suffered minor injuries when they were hit by flying glass.

“There’s a certain callousness with this that you don’t typically see in gang shootings,” Lt. Robert Helton said. “It’s not gang style to jeopardize other people if they have a grudge or vendetta, so this is unique from that standpoint.”

The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. at the Vintage Woods Apartments in the 3900 block of 5th Street, stunning neighbors in the well-maintained security complex just west of Harbor Boulevard.

“This is the first time we’ve had trouble like this,” said August Fiore, who manages the 172-unit complex. “We had like a little paradise here, and this has kind of spoiled it.”

The gunfire shattered almost every window of the gray and black 1988 Ford Escort, leaving bullet holes in the seats, dashboard, doors, wheels and rear-view mirror. Shattered glass covered a baby bottle and a pair of a toddler’s tennis shoes in the back seat.

Family members said 1-year-old Monique Reyes was sitting in a baby seat that was sprayed with bullets, and bullet fragments lodged in her scalp. Mario Reyes died with the gate’s remote control in his hand, they said.

“They started shooting on the passenger side of the car and the woman was struck first,” Helton said. “Then, they moved to the back of the car, firing through the rear window, over the top of the kids in the back seat.”

Helton said that as the couple “stopped for the gate to open, two or three men approached on foot and started shooting into the car. It is our belief that the suspects were lying in wait, waiting for them to show up.”

Reyes, a known gang member who Helton said may have been feuding with a rival gang, was driving the car and was shot numerous times in the head and the back. He died at the scene.

His girlfriend, 20-year-old Vanessa Mendez, was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car and was hit in the back by a single bullet that went through her body. She is in stable condition at an undisclosed local hospital, police said.

Carlos Mendez, 4, Mendez’s son from a previous relationship, and Monique Reyes were examined at a hospital. Carlos was released to Mendez’s mother and the baby girl was recovering Wednesday at the Reyes family home in south Santa Ana.

Family and friends Wednesday remembered Reyes as a talented boxer who loved restoring Chevrolet Impalas and had been trying to get away from gang life.

“He had his baby. He had his wife. He was one of the coolest homeboys we had,” said one 17-year-old gang member. “He would even lecture us. He would say, ‘I’m kicking back. You guys should kick back, too.’ No one was expecting this, but a lot of people all over Santa Ana wanted him, and they finally got him.”

Reyes’ father, 52-year-old Juan Reyes, said he had moved the family away from Cubbon Street to a well-kept middle-class neighborhood four years ago to get the kids away from the pull of the streets.

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The father also quit his job driving a big-rig so he could work closer to home, but his son, one of six children, was in too deep.

Reyes was shot in the legs by rival gang members a few years ago, and last year, someone set fire to two cars in front of his parents’ home. Last month, the house was sprayed with 35 rounds of gunfire, shattering the television and sending pots and pans flying, Reyes said.

Lately, his son refused to talk to him about the problems he was having and wouldn’t cooperate with police when his parents’ home was sprayed with bullets, but he was eager to get away.

“I asked him if he wanted to move to Ventura County, where we have lots of family, and he said ‘Yes,’ ” the senior Reyes said. “But now it’s too late.”

A group of cousins who came to Santa Ana from Ventura County on Wednesday said Reyes planned to move today.

“Problems for the kids in Santa Ana are like a cancer right now,” said Reyes, who plans to move the family out of the city.

Helton said that after last month’s shooting, Reyes “told us he would take care of matters himself. That leads us to believe that he may have suspected a certain gang. There may have been some kind of confrontation between that time and last night.”

Two or three males were seen running from the area immediately after the shooting, police said. No arrests have been made and police had no suspects in the case.

The shooting was the city’s 20th gang-related killing of 1994, bringing the city’s overall homicide total to 38. Last year, the city experienced a record-shattering 78 homicides, 47 of which were gang-related.

Co-workers at Dick Cepeck Sport Truck Connection in Santa Ana, where Reyes worked, said the victim abruptly took two weeks off from work about the time of the shooting at his parents’ house and took his family to Mexico.

“He never said why he had to go, but there was a definite urgency to it,” said David Rittenhouse, manager of the truck repair business. “When he came back, he got right back to work and he worked right up until (Tuesday) with no problems.”

Service manager Ron Stobaugh, Reyes’ direct supervisor, said the victim had been planning to move from his apartment but had not revealed why.

“He alerted us to his plans so he could use us as a reference,” Stobaugh said.

Court documents show that Reyes had several criminal convictions in recent years. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of drinking in a Santa Ana park, and having a loaded weapon in his vehicle. This year he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years’ probation for beating his girlfriend Mendez.

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His friend from the gang said Reyes had been in and out of Juvenile Hall about 10 times before he decided to clean up his life.

Rittenhouse and others said Reyes would work through his lunch hour twice a week so that he could leave work early to meet with his probation officer. They said he appeared to be trying to leave a troubled past behind and seemed devoted to his family and his job.

“He was a good guy, a solid guy,” Rittenhouse said. “There was an indication that he may have been involved in some gang situation, but he never brought it to work. He was honest, never complained and was a very steady employee.”

Neighbors at the family’s apartment complex expressed shock over the shootings. Many said that although the apartments are located near a part of town that has had its share of crime, they felt protected inside the apartment complex, which is well-maintained with lush landscaping, a large swimming pool and security gates.

Another longtime resident who asked not to be identified said, “The ‘hood is right across the street so we kept our gates locked. It’s really a sad situation when it hits so close to home.”

Fiore said Reyes and Mendez had lived in the complex for more than a year and always paid their rent on time. They said the couple had not caused any problems in the past.

“They were good tenants, but we didn’t really know anything about their personal lives, so you never know,” Fiore said.

Fiore was among the residents who heard the rapid gunfire and called police.

“I ran over there and saw (Reyes) slumped over in the seat,” he said. “It was a horrible sight. It’s frightening to see it happen in your own back yard. I hope it never happens again.”

Dried bloodstains remained on the ground near the electronic gate on the west side of the large apartment complex Wednesday, drawing the attention of curious neighbors and family members of the victims.

“It’s sad that someone would do this to a family,” said Christina Lopez, Mendez’s stepsister. “We are still trying to find out what happened.”

Times staff writers Lee Romney and Jaime Abdo contributed to this story.