Santa Ana Teen Fatally Shot After School

A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot as he walked home from school Wednesday by two youths riding bicycles, police said.

The two assailants asked Roy Villa for his gang affiliation before shooting him three times in the chest and fleeing on their bikes, officers said. He died at the scene.

Family members said Villa was attending a nearby continuation school and was walking home on Sullivan Street near McFadden Avenue about 11:30 a.m. when he was attacked.

“He wasn’t in any gang,” said Guillermo Villa, 22, a brother. “He was one of those guys who was always smiling. You just wanted to be around him.”

A Santa Ana police spokesman said the department’s gang detail was investigating the shooting and that no arrests had been made late Thursday.

Villa was one of five children born to immigrants from Michoacan, Mexico. The family lives on Bamdal Street in a neighborhood of older stucco homes and apartment buildings, many protected by wrought-iron gates.

Wednesday evening, the family home was crowded with friends and family members, many of whom stood silently as Villa’s parents wept. A vendor who sold ears of corn from a shopping cart across the street said, “This area is full of bad boys. Lots of trouble.”

Five blocks away, a small shrine of flowers, candles and a white, wooden cross were set against a cinder-block wall, marking the place where Villa died.

To raise money for funeral expenses, family members will hold a car wash this weekend, Guillermo Villa said. It will be at Salvador Park Recreation Center on Civic Center Drive from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.