Rape Suspect Killed in Shooting

A woman who was raped in a North Flower Street parking garage earlier this week has identified a man who was fatally shot less than 45 minutes later as her attacker, police said Friday.

“It’s definitely the strangest deal I’ve ever seen,” Sgt. Bob Clark said. “This is about the first time I can recall someone committing a heinous sexual assault and within an hour wind up dead in an unrelated shooting. It’s bizarre.”

An officer who investigated the shooting about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday noted in his report that the shooting victim, Isac Lagunas, 26, matched a description of the suspected rapist, Clark said.

Police said Lagunas wore a white shirt, white pants, red cap and had earrings in both ears. Officers also found a $50 bill in his wallet; the rape victim told police her attacker took a $50 bill from her purse before fleeing. Lagunas also was found in a yellow Geo Storm, the same type of car the rapist left in, police said.

Detectives on Thursday interviewed two men who said they were with Lagunas about 10 p.m. the evening before, when he stopped to pick up a woman on Santa Ana Boulevard who accepted his offer of a ride home.

Clark said the 30-year-old woman was driven to the parking garage of Mainplace Apartments, where Lagunas lived, and the two male passengers left the area. Lagunas began “to put the make on this girl” and forced her on the concrete floor, where he raped her, Clark said. Then he took her money and left, police said.

Lagunas drove to the 1000 block of South Minnie Street, apparently picking up two more friends along the way, police said. Detectives believe the trio tried to purchase drugs and that the slaying of Lagunas was the result of a drug deal gone awry.

“Whether they refused to pay or what, we don’t know,” Clark said. “It appears the shots were fired from the street, from someone standing on the [sidewalk].”

One bullet hit Lagunas in the upper torso, and the car crashed into a fence on McFadden Avenue, less than two blocks away. The two passengers bolted from the car, but police learned Friday that one had also been shot in the leg. He was treated at UCI Medical Center and released, Clark said.