LAGUNA NIGUEL : Man Held After Shooting Outside Restaurant
Sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested an Aliso Viejo man who shot at a fellow gang member and missed outside a Laguna Niguel restaurant, authorities said.
Thadeus Smith, 32, was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting, which took place after a fistfight with the victim, said Sheriff’s Lt. William Francis. He was being held on $50,000 bail, according to jail officials.
The two, described by authorities as gang members, were fighting over the suspect’s wife, Francis said, but details were unclear. There were no injuries in the shooting outside the restaurant on Cabot Road.
Deputies made the arrest after stopping Smith in a car on the San Diego Freeway. Investigators later were searching beside the freeway for a .25-caliber handgun they believe he threw out of the car.
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