Three Wounded When Car Is Sprayed With Gunfire

Three men were shot Saturday, two of them critically, as they pulled into a strip mall in their black Honda Civic and were sprayed with semiautomatic gunfire, police said.

The shooting occurred about 7:40 p.m. on Magnolia Street at Hazard Avenue as the men drove into the parking lot of AZ Food Stores, Westminster Police Sgt. Jack R. Davidson said.

One man was airlifted to UCI Medical Center in critical condition and another was taken there by ambulance, also in critical condition, police said. Both were shot multiple times in the chest. The third victim was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with multiple gunshot wounds to his leg.

“One may lose a kidney or a lung,” Davidson said.

Shell casings littered the parking lot Saturday where the Civic sat askew, poised to enter a parking spot. Lt. Bill Lewis said witnesses reported hearing anywhere from 12 to 100 shots from a semiautomatic weapon.

Police said it appears there were three suspects who fled the scene in a vehicle, but Lewis said witnesses gave conflicting statements about the exact number of people involved.

“We don’t know whether they know each other or anything else at this point,” Lewis said.

Davidson said it was unclear which suspect was the shooter.

Garden Grove gang investigators were at the scene to assist Westminster police.

Police said they were exploring the possibility that the incident was gang-related.

“These people don’t appear to be gang members, but you never know,” Davidson said of the victims.

Police late Saturday had not released the names of the victims, all of them Vietnamese. The suspects are also believed to be Vietnamese, police said.