Drug Deal Suspected at Root of Slaying
A 37-year-old man was gunned down early Wednesday in an apartment building, a killing police said might have resulted from a drug deal gone sour.
Benjamin Jefferson, who police said had an unknown residence, was shot once in the stomach about 3 a.m. while standing in the doorway of an apartment unit in the 1100 block of West Segerstrom Avenue, police said. He was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center in Orange about six hours later, according to a coroner’s investigator.
Witnesses said Jefferson was at the door with a female companion when he confronted an armed man, apparently an acquaintance, inside the apartment, Officer Dennis Sebastianelli said.
The gunman, referred to as “Mo” by witnesses, opened fire and then fled the scene in a beige, 1980s Ford Mustang.
Investigators asked that anyone with information about the shooting contact Santa Ana police at (714) 647-6995.
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