Man Found Shot Dead in Locked Anaheim Bar

An unidentified man was found dead, locked alone inside a bar in an Anaheim strip mall early Sunday morning, and authorities are investigating the case as a homicide, police said.

The victim apparently was shot while the Las Alazanas bar was still open. Fire Department paramedics and police arrived at the scene, in the 2100 block of West Lincoln Avenue, just east of Brookhurst Street, shortly after 1 a.m., after a woman called to say a man had been shot.

Though the bar was locked when they arrived, police learned that several patrons had fled when the shooting occurred, not long before their arrival. Authorities broke a glass door to get in and found the man dead.

Police would not say why the man had been left alone, or whether they knew who had locked the doors and left the victim there.

Authorities were still trying to identify the man late Sunday afternoon, said Larry Esslinger, a deputy coroner. An autopsy was conducted Sunday, but the cause of death was not released.

Neighbors who live along Bircher Street behind the bar said they were stunned to wake up and find the tiny strip mall cordoned off.

Once a neighborhood bar, Las Alazanas has lately drawn patrons--sometimes a rougher crowd--from a wider area, neighbors said. Also in recent years, the strip mall has seen trouble.

“It’s pretty rough,” said one woman who has lived on Bircher Street for four decades. “One guy was chased down and shot right outside the building about a year and a half ago. And about two years ago, a woman was beaten outside the convenience store [in the building next door].”

And last month, Jose Alfredo Brito, 35, of Santa Ana was found shot to death inside his car parked in a lot across the street, also the victim of an apparent homicide, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Anaheim homicide detectives at (714) 765-1967.