IRVINE : 2 Teens Held After Restaurant Gunfire

Two suspected gang members sprayed an exclusive Irvine restaurant with gunfire early Friday morning after arguing with customers, police said.

Two 16-year-olds were arrested when police stopped their car at the Jamboree Road off-ramp on the Santa Ana Freeway.

Henry Liu, owner of Pavilion restaurant, a Chinese restaurant in the Heritage Square Shopping Center at Scottsdale and Culver drives, said he was deeply disturbed by the restaurant’s first incidence of violence in eight years.

“We’ve never had anything like this before. It’s really the first time,” Liu said. “Most of the kids who come here are local kids, UCI students.”

The restaurant, which stops serving dinner around 10 p.m., remains open until 2 a.m., operating a karaoke bar in one of its dining rooms. Customers sing along with the karaoke machine.

According to Liu, two youths had spent a couple of hours in the bar when they got into a quarrel with another group of customers. The security guard then asked them to leave.

Liu said the boys were not served any alcoholic beverages, and police confirmed that there was no indication that they had been drinking.

Police said they believe that after the boys left the restaurant they drove into Los Angeles County to pick up some friends, and returned to Irvine around 1:10 a.m., shooting five times at the faux bronze doors.

“The place had pretty much closed down, and the other party involved in the disturbance was gone,” Investigator Dennis Howe said.

The teen-agers, one of whom lives in Cerritos, were booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of shooting at an inhabited building.

Police said they are investigating the possibility that four or five other boys were with them. A handgun was found in the car, police said.