O.C. slaying victim had been shot before
When the three boys crumpled to the sidewalk from gunshot wounds in their Santa Ana neighborhood Sunday, one of them died perhaps carrying the name of the suspected gang member who had shot him once before and who may have returned to kill him.
Police said Monday that 14-year-old Angel Secundino’s refusal to identify who shot him in the foot outside his home Oct. 27, either out of fear of retaliation or defiance toward police, may be to blame for Angel’s death and that of 14-year-old Gabriel Perez.
“It’s possible,” said Santa Ana Police Officer Victor Standke, that if Angel “had told us who had shot him, it could have saved him. He really wasn’t cooperative and didn’t want to talk to us.”
A 16-year-old boy, whom police have not identified, was hospitalized with gunshot wounds to his abdomen from the Sunday shooting. He was in critical condition Monday, Standke said.
According to a 17-year-old who said he witnessed both shootings, “It was the same shooter both times.” His identity is being withheld in order to protect him.
The teen, who said he would not cooperate with police, said the three victims had spent Sunday watching television and eating when they decided to walk from one of their homes to another in their neighborhood southeast of downtown.
As they walked, police said, a shooter or shooters got out of a car and shot the boys at close range.
It was the first instance of suspected gang violence this year in that neighborhood, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo said.
Gang killings throughout the city have increased from 13 in 2005 to 16 this year -- a slight reversal of the dramatic decrease in gang violence in Santa Ana over the last decade.
Police, fearing that Sunday’s killings may spark retaliation, are stepping up efforts to patrol gang areas and are using parole and probation officers to press their charges to remain calm, Carrillo said.
Police have not determined whether the victims were gang members.
The teen who said he witnessed the shooting said he did not know why the boys were targets.
“Angel was just living day to day,” he said. “I don’t know if he thought about the future.”
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