WESTMINSTER : Police Investigating 2 Similar Shootings

Police are investigating two shootings that occurred one minute apart, on the same street, in which suspects asked the victims which gang they belonged to before opening fire.

Authorities, however, said the two incidents appear to be unrelated and the investigations are continuing.

The first shooting occurred at 9:59 p.m. Monday at Westminster Boulevard and Westminster Lane. The victim was a 15-year-old from Huntington Beach who was standing with his friends in a bowling alley parking lot when the assailants drove up and asked what gang he claimed, police said.

When he replied, they pulled out a handgun and shot him in the upper body, police said. The victim was in stable condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center on Tuesday. After the shooting, the assailants fled northbound on Edwards Street in a light blue Toyota.

The second shooting took place one minute later about two miles away in the Lucky’s supermarket parking lot at Westminster Boulevard and Magnolia Street. Two people were wounded.

Three men, about 18 or 19 years old, asked the victims what gangs they claimed and when they did not respond, the men shot the victims with a small-caliber handgun, Sgt. Rick McKinney said.

Lang To, 21, of Westminster was in stable condition at Western Medical Center recovering from gunshot wounds to his upper torso, and An Thung, 20, of Garden Grove was in stable condition at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, recovering from gunshot wounds to his legs Friday.

The gunmen fled southbound on Magnolia in a brown car, which police believe to be a lowered Oldsmobile or Cadillac with tinted windows.