2 Arrested in Irvine Drive-By Shooting

Irvine police arrested two men early Sunday in connection with a drive-by shooting the night before.

Mannie Thomas III, 22, of Corona, and Nicholas Hirsch, 20, of Beaumont were arrested at their homes. They were expected to be booked at Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder in the wake of the 11:30 p.m. shooting at a party near Walnut Street and Yale Avenue that sent one partygoer to the hospital with a bullet in his leg.

Police said the two men had been at the party earlier, but “the party was overcrowded and they were asked to leave,” said Sgt. Rhonda Wood, a spokeswoman for the Irvine Police Department. “Apparently they wanted to stay and party more.”

Instead, Wood said, the pair left and returned a short time later in a small white car with Hirsch at the wheel and Thomas brandishing a semiautomatic pistol. As the car passed, she said, Thomas allegedly fired several rounds into a crowd gathered on the sidewalk, hitting Brian Scott, 22, of Riverside, in the leg.

He was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana where he was treated for his injuries, which were described as non-life threatening.

The incident is under investigation, police said.