1 dead in gang shooting

A Santa Ana man was killed in a gang-related shooting in Costa Mesa on Monday night, police said.

Julio Cesar Guerrero-Elias, 20, was dropping off a friend in an alley off Filmore Way when he was shot at 9:30 p.m. Monday.

He then drove several blocks before crashing into a parked car in the 1100 block of Paularino Avenue, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver.

Guerrero-Elias was taken by ambulance to Orange Coast Memorial Hospital in Fountain Valley, where he was pronounced dead.

“It looks like he tried to get out of the area” after being shot, Carver said.

Police said the shooting was gang-related and was not random.

It was the second gang-related shooting in Costa Mesa this month.

On April 5, 19-year-old Fredy Lopez was shot multiple times by an unidentified gunman while working on a car in an alley in the 1000 block of El Camino. Lopez survived the shooting.

The shooter called Lopez by his nickname, a gang moniker, police said.

Police do not believe the two shootings are related.

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact Costa Mesa Det. Ed Everett at (714) 754-5360.