Traffic Stop Leads Police to Guns, Arrests

A shooting that wounded at least two men last week in Stanton has led the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to a significant cache of guns and the arrest of at least two juveniles and six adults who police believe are associated with rival gangs in Stanton and Westminster.

About 2 a.m. on Dec. 21, officers in a California Highway Patrol car noticed a 1995 green Ford pickup turn left on a red light from Beach Boulevard onto Chapman Avenue, police said.

When they had the driver and two passengers pull over, the CHP officers saw “blood everywhere” and ammunition in the front seat, Sgt. Mark Levy said. They radioed for help and discovered that a shooting had taken place near Beach Boulevard south of Chapman Avenue in Stanton. The blood came from the bullet wounds of two of the truck’s occupants, Levy said.

The officers guessed that the three, Gerardo Luna, 33, of Stanton, Daniel Perez, 19, of Santa Ana, and a juvenile, had tossed their weapons, and retraced the pickup’s path, Levy said. They found a Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol and two handguns, one a snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver and the other a .45-caliber Ruger pistol, Levy said. All of the guns had been reported stolen. Luna was found in possession of methamphetamine, Levy said.

But that was only the beginning. “It just kept growing,” Levy said.

Upon questioning the three, police discovered that they had associations with a well-established Stanton gang. The day after the shooting, police found the apartment where it had taken place. There they found three more weapons: a sawed-off shotgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a .22-caliber pistol. Police arrested Javier Solorzano, 22, of Westminster; Fernando Ponce, 27, of Santa Ana; Daniel Kuwitzky, 19, of Westminster; and Angela Salais, 21, of Stanton. Authorities said all four have connections to a Westminster gang.

Inside the apartment, police also found a surveillance camera focused on the parking area and outside gates. Levy said he didn’t know why the apartment’s residents felt compelled to have the camera, but he speculated that “if you were involved in some sort of illicit activity, you would want to know who was coming into the apartment well in advance.”

Another cache of weapons, and the largest in connection with the investigation, came from the apartment of a boy apprehended near the shooting. Police found nine weapons, including sawed-off shotguns and a M-1 rifle. Police took his sister, also a juvenile, into custody. Both have associations with the Westminster gang, Levy said.

According to Levy, the shooting was Stanton’s first gang activity in about six months. He said police still don’t know what started the shootout, but the gangs have a well-known rivalry, and police will continue investigating.

Judy Silber can be reached at (714) 966-5988.