Irvine Man Slain Outside Home : Crime: Gregory Hebdon, a 30-year-old businessman, is shot in broad daylight. His wife rushes to his side as two assailants flee in a cream-colored Lexus. The killing is the city’s first homicide of the year.

A 30-year-old Irvine businessman was fatally shot in the head and chest outside his Woodbridge townhome at midday Friday, and police are looking for two men who fled in a luxury car.

Shocked neighbors said they heard several rapid shots at about 12:50 p.m. and a man scream “No! No! No!” before seeing the victim’s wife run to his side, crying hysterically.

Witnesses said Gregory Hebdon was found near death under his Toyota Land Cruiser parked in an alley behind his East Yale Loop townhome.

Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato said the assailants did not take money from Hebdon, and investigators didn’t know what motivated the slaying, the city’s first this year.

“For some reason, he was confronted in the back of his house and shot,” Allevato said. “We’re not sure whether he was followed here, or whether this was a planned meeting that went bad,” Allevato said. “We just don’t know.”

Police are searching for two men who fled the scene in a cream-colored, or possibly white, Lexus GS four-door sedan.

Hebdon died shortly after the shooting at Irvine Medical Center. His wife, Lillian, 29, spent much of the afternoon at the hospital praying and being comforted by a clergyman.

She had been in the house at the time of the shooting. It was not immediately known where the couple’s son and newborn girl were at the time.

Hebdon ran a business in Irvine that specializes in restoring homes and businesses damaged by water or fire, according to co-workers and neighbors.

One of two housekeepers who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they saw two men beating the victim in the head with the butts of their guns in an alley near Ponderosa Street and Briarwood, where the housekeepers had parked their car to look for a home they were scheduled to clean.

The two assailants appeared to be trying to force the man, who was on his knees, into the open trunk of a cream-colored car parked where the shooting apparently happened, the housekeeper said.

At one point, she said, one assailant turned around and saw them witnessing the attack. The woman said that she and her co-worker fled in fright, driving off to Briarwood and East Yale Loop, where they parked and crouched down in their car.

The witnesses said that as they stopped their car, they heard a rapid succession of gunshots and a car race out of the alley. The Lexus turned toward East Yale Loop, near the corner where the women had stopped, and halted for one of the men to get out to close the trunk lid. The women said they last saw the two men turning left on East Yale Loop.

At least one of the women was being interviewed by police Friday.

The shots shattered a normally placid neighborhood of well-kept houses and townhomes that start at $250,000. By sundown, a neighbor had set a bouquet of flowers in the alley where the shooting occurred.

Some neighbors ran from their homes after hearing the shots to find the tragedy unfolding in the alley.

“I’ve been here 14 years,” said Gail White, who lives across the street. “It makes us all feel very unsafe. . . . It’s absolutely tragic.”

Bob Davis, who lives behind the Hebdon family, described them as close-knit.

“They had wonderful family parties in their back yard,” he said. “This really shakes me that something like this would happen. It would make more sense if he had a grudge with them rather than believe he died as a result of random violence.”

Lavine Hunter, who lives next door to the Hebdons, said that the young couple had moved here about two years ago from the San Diego area. “This was their dream home, and they were very happy to live here,” she said.

A stunned Hunter said she looked into the alley after hearing several shots and saw her neighbor lying under his truck. She said he appeared to have a type of cuff around his wrist that may have been attached to a briefcase, although she didn’t see any briefcase by his side.

Gershon Schatzberg, a neighbor on the street, said he was eating lunch in his back yard when he heard a man scream “No!” several times before shots rang out. After telling his own family to lie down inside their house, he ran out to find his neighbor bleeding under the truck.

“They were extremely nice people,” he said. “Their yard was always full of toys.”

The killing also stunned employees of Gregory and Lillian Hebdon’s business, Servpro of Irvine.

“This murder is a waste of a great person with a lot of ambition,” said Mike Macy, the business manager. “I hate to see this happen to anyone, but more so to someone that went out of his way to help anyone he could.”

Hebdon’s father had started the Servpro business in San Diego 28 years ago, and Hebdon worked for him until he started his own business five years ago, Macy said. During the recent floods, Servpro serviced more than 80 water damaged structures, including Tustin schools and Laguna Beach restaurants hit with mud, Macy said.

“Gregory was a very knowledgeable, intelligent person,” Macy said. “He was the kind of guy that has patience that is beyond belief. He kept everybody motivated. He is so knowledgeable in this industry that if he didn’t have an answer for you he would get an answer for you.

“He is the type of person who would try anything to motivate you,” he said. “For instance, he called our office manager this morning just to ask her how she was doing because her spirits were down today.”

Macy said he last spoke with Hebdon at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Macy had a flat tire in Irvine about four blocks from Servpro. Hebdon immediately brought him a new tire and they changed it together.

“If I have a problem somewhere, I can always call Greg and he never stresses; he’s a stress-free person,” Macy said. “I know he goes through a lot of anxiety, but he never shows it.”

Times staff writer Yvette Cabrera, H.G. Reza and Lisa Richardson contributed contributed to this story.

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Daylight Shooting: Two men are being sought after an Irvine man was fatally shot in an alley behind his house.