14-Year-Old Is Killed Sitting at Gas Station

A 14-year-old Anaheim boy who was sitting inside a car at a gas station while his friend pumped gas was shot and killed when a man walked up to their car and opened fire Wednesday, police said.

The victim was identified by his mother as Agustin Blancas Jr., who recently graduated from Dale Junior High and was going to attend Savanna High School.

“He was a good boy. Why did this have to happen?” asked the boy’s mother, Jolanda Trejo, who was summoned to the gas station at 2401 W. Lincoln Ave.

Police said the shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m.

After the boys pulled up to a gas pump, another car stopped behind, police said. One man got out of his vehicle, approached the boys’ car and opened fire. The boy pumping the gas and another boy ran for cover. Blancas remained in the car.

“The other two ran across the street as they were being shot at,” Anaheim Police Lt. David Severson said.

Police did not have a motive for the shooting, but Severson said the slaying is being investigated by the department’s gang detail because it had “all the trappings” of a gang shooting.

Relatives of Blancas insisted that the boy was not a gang member and described him as a quiet youth who enjoyed his friends and family.

“He was a nice person and would just go to school, then come home,” said the victim’s sister, Alejandra Blancas, 20, at the scene.

She said her brother had spent Wednesday at the beach with some friends. They were returning home.

Erpidio Rodriguez was in the doorway of the nearby bakery where he works when he heard about six to seven shots ring out in quick succession.

“I heard all these shots, bam, bam, bam, bam. Real quick and all at once,” Rodriguez said. “It sounded like they all came from one gun. And I saw these boys . . . running from the gas station.”

Rodriguez said he then saw a man get into a car that was parked behind the victim’s car, and pull away.

“They didn’t drive fast or anything,” Rodriguez said. “They just drove away slowly.”