Body Found on Tracks Believed Shot by Partner

It was several hours before Santa Ana police sorted out how a man’s body--shot in the chest and discovered along the railroad tracks near Minnie Street--got there.

By late Monday night, police still didn’t know who the victim was. They did say, however, that they have a suspect in the shooting--the dead man’s alleged accomplice in a botched robbery of a catering truck.

The dead man was described as being in his early 20s, of Samoan descent, 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, with a black mustache and Afro hair style. He was wearing a pearl stud earring, camouflage pants, a blue T-shirt, a tan jacket and blue jogging shoes when he died Sunday night. Sgt. Dick Faust said police are seeking help in identifying the man.

Faust said the incident apparently occurred about 7:30 p.m. in the 800 block of West Myrtle Street, where a lunch wagon was parked. Two men tried to rob the catering truck but got no money and were chased by the driver.

A few blocks away, in the 700 block of West Camile Street, one of the suspects turned and fired at the merchant but shot his fleeing partner instead, Faust said.

As the driver returned to his food wagon, Faust said, the wounded man was yanked into the suspect’s moving car. Several minutes later witnesses saw a body being dumped onto the railroad tracks in the 800 block of South Minnie Street. Faust said officers were able to piece the story together by midnight.