Police Arrest Suspect in Student’s Slaying

Police arrested a 19-year-old Santa Ana man Wednesday morning suspected of gunning down a 16-year-old Westminster high school student at a strip mall earlier this year.

Police booked Efrain Negrete Paz, on suspicion of murder in connection with the September killing of Eric Sandoval, a student at La Quinta High School. Paz, a suspected gang member, was held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond, police said.

Important evidence for the arrest was obtained around 7 a.m. Wednesday when 60 law enforcement officers in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties searched a number of residences, police said. Paz, who police suspect was the triggerman in the drive-by killing, was arrested around 9:15 a.m. without incident in Costa Mesa.

Police still have no motive in the September slaying in which Sandoval, who was not a gang member, was fatally shot while making a phone call at a strip mall near his Westminster home.

The shooting of Sandoval, a popular student and football player, prompted an outpouring of grief in the community. Classmates held a candlelight vigil for the sophomore and organized a car wash, donating the money to his family for funeral expenses.

On Sept. 21, Sandoval and a friend were at a phone booth near Ward Street and Bolsa Avenue when several people in a car began yelling at them, asking where they were from, according to police and eyewitnesses.

The two teenagers ran, and at least one of the car’s occupants opened fire, striking Sandoval in the leg, police said. As the driver drove around in the parking lot, another bullet hit Sandoval in the head, police said.