Shootings Shake Up Tough Neighborhood : Crime: Residents say they’re used to the sound of gunshots. But two holiday attacks, one fatal, have some drawing the line.

Longtime residents of Rene Drive have grown accustomed to the sound of gunshots ricocheting off fences in this working-class neighborhood. But two shootings over the Christmas weekend, one of them fatal, have prompted some to consider moving away.

“It’s rare when a day goes by and you don’t hear gunshots, but we’ve never heard them so close to our home like it happened Monday,” said an 18-year resident who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “It’s getting pretty scary--we might sell the house.”

Rene Drive, off Edinger Avenue and Bristol Street, is made up of single-story houses, some guarded by wrought-iron fences, others enclosed by simple chain-link fences. And though graffiti is not rampant, it can be found scrawled on chimneys and paint-cracked walls along parts of the neighborhood.

Last Saturday, Rene Fernandez, a 19-year-old student at Orange Coast College, was shot in the upper torso and died at the scene on Carlton Place, just a few blocks away from Rene Drive, where he had lived for most of his life. Police said Fernandez and his two friends were shot at by unknown assailants as the three drove to a friend’s home.

The two friends, who were wounded in the shooting, were treated at a local hospital and later released. No arrests have been made, according to police.

Early Monday morning, five Inglewood men on their way to a party were shot at by unknown assailants who stopped the victims as they drove by on Rene Drive, police said. One of the victims, Sergio Jaime, 21, was seriously wounded and remained on a life-support system at UCI Medical Center in Orange. No arrests have been made in that shooting either, police said.

“Gunshots are very common--I hear them every other night,” said Salvador Enriquez, 19, a student at Rancho Santiago College and a Rene Drive resident. “The way I see it, it will take just a couple more years and this neighborhood will be like my old one, and that one was real bad.”

Many of the residents in the neighborhood say they feel safe during the day. It’s at night that they don’t dare venture onto the streets of their neighborhood.

“Our neighborhood is not bad and it generally feels safe,” said 16-year-old Brenda Guillen, a sophomore at Century High School. “But I feel scared about the shootings. That’s why I lay low at night and stay home with the doors locked.”

Others said they have been robbed in broad daylight. Recently, Amelia Perales, 44, had a gold chain snatched off her neck as she walked to pick up her children from school on nearby McFadden Avenue.

Perales, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said her house was burglarized a few years ago. She said she and her husband tried to sell the house last year, but received no offers.

“We will try to sell the house again this year because we want to move into a better neighborhood,” said Perales, who has five children.

Residents attribute the rise in crime to the proximity of their neighborhood to Bristol Street, which has become a gathering spot for weekend cruising. Cruisers often make U-turns on Rene Drive, but some also park their lowriders on the street and cause trouble, residents said.

Crime in the neighborhood, however, is not a significant problem, said Lt. Robert Helton, a spokesman for the Police Department. Helton added that officers do not see a link between crime on Rene Drive and cruising on Bristol Street.

“There is a sense of fear that the general population has, but it is not founded on anything they can specifically cite,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that just hearing a gunshot is a sign to them to stay home at night.”

But residents insist that cruising has contributed to crime in their neighborhood.

“The cruisers are a big problem, plus the tagging and the gangs,” said Eva Fernandez, whose son, Rene, was shot to death Christmas Eve. “A friend of mine who lives nearby on the corner of Pacific and Edinger is selling her house because of all the cruising and shooting.”

However, Fernandez, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years, said she has never considered moving, not even after last weekend’s tragedy.

“I don’t want to move--all of my relatives are here in Santa Ana and we need a lot of emotional support from them right now,” she said. “That is the only reason we are staying.”