Separate Shootings Injure 2 Men at Convenience Stores

An Orange man and a Santa Ana man were clinging to life at a hospital here Sunday after each was shot in the head in separate shootings at convenience store parking lots, police said.

Danny Gomes of Orange and Jimmy Rumsey of Santa Ana were listed in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, both victims of similar spasms of Saturday night violence.

Gomes, 20, was in the back seat of a vehicle parked in a 7-Eleven lot near the crossing of East Chapman Avenue and Hewes Street when he was shot just before midnight, Orange Police Sgt. Jim Pyne said.

His companions drove Gomes to Chapman Medical Center, Pyne said. He was later transferred to the Santa Ana hospital.

Pyne said the assailants were unknown, but that the shooting might have been gang-related.

What happened in Orange appeared to echo events in Tustin about three hours earlier.

Rumsey, 21, was with friends outside a Circle K store at West McFadden Street and Pasadena Avenue around 9 p.m. when several individuals drove up in a small car, got out and started talking with them, Tustin Police Sgt. Mike Pettifer said.

Someone pulled out a handgun and fired several shots, one striking Rumsey in the face, Pettifer said.

Tustin police said this shooting too might have stemmed from a gang dispute. No arrests were reported.