They Shared Work, Death

Javier and Salvador Parra were brothers who lived together and worked together, sending what money they could home to their families in Mexico.

On Friday night, the brothers died together, the victims of a puzzling shooting outside a Santa Ana restaurant where they’d worked for more than three years.

Police said the killings outside a Hometown Buffet were not related to gangs or drugs, a common motive for many of Santa Ana’s street shootings. Co-workers said robbery does not appear to be a motive either since neither man’s wallet was taken.

“It’s a mystery at this point,” said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Richard Bouchard.

Javier, 36, a dishwasher, and Salvador, 32, a cook, had just left work when they were shot while seated in a car in the restaurant parking lot at 17th Street and East Lincoln Avenue just before 11 p.m., employees said. Their Ford Mustang, still in drive, coasted through the parking lot and crashed into a tree.

Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and then saw a gunman running from the parking lot. No arrests have been made and police have not determined a motive, Bouchard said.

Hometown Buffet corporate officials sent counselors to meet with employees, who described their co-workers as quiet and hard-working.

“This is one of the best neighborhoods in Santa Ana. Never in my wildest dreams did I think anything like this could happen here,” said Garrick Arostique, who had worked with the Parra brothers for more than two years. “It really turns your stomach. I had just talked to them before I left last night.”

Mario Lee, regional vice president of Buffets Inc., parent to 400 Hometown Buffets in the United States, said the crime was hard to fathom.

“We knew it wasn’t a robbery right off the bat. So it is puzzling, especially because of the behavior of these two guys. They were model citizens, very hard-working,” Lee said.

Lee said police told restaurant officials that nothing was stolen from the brothers. Police, though, could not confirm that Saturday.

The brothers were married and had children. Their wives were in Tijuana on Saturday and were planning to drive to Orange County today to make funeral arrangements, said Ray Tavakoli, a district manager for the restaurant company.

The Parra brothers had worked at the restaurant since it opened more than three years ago, Tavakoli said.

“We treat our employees like a family,” Tavakoli said. “This was a family tragedy for us.”