50 Police Stage Raids in Bid to Prevent Gang Violence : Crime: Three youths are arrested in May shooting. Costa Mesa police say they hope the action puts an end to a series of violent clashes.
COSTA MESA — More than 50 police officers including two SWAT teams raided five residences early Monday morning and arrested three suspected gang members in connection with a drive-by shooting that left one person severely wounded.
Police said they hope the arrests will cool violence that has erupted in the city’s southwest section between rival Latino gangs. In separate incidents in May, one victim was clubbed with a hammer after being chased from a car, two young men were injured in a drive-by shooting, and four others were arrested on suspicion of an attempted drive-by shooting after police stopped them driving by Back Bay High School, a continuation school, in a vehicle with a loaded handgun and a knife.
“Hopefully, the arrests could really significantly impact the gangs for the summer,†Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said. He added that rising violence between the gangs was over a “turf battle.â€
Arrested were Jose Angulo, 18, and Leonardo Ayala, 19, both of Costa Mesa, and a 15-year-old Santa Ana youth who was not identified because of his age, FitzPatrick said. The three were arrested Monday in connection with a May 16 drive-by incident in the 700 block of Shalimar Drive that left a 16-year-old youth with severe internal injuries.
“The victim in that incident lost a spleen and part of his pancreas,†FitzPatrick said.
FitzPatrick said that police from Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Newport Beach joined forces with investigators from the county’s Probation Department and Orange County district attorney’s office and served search and arrest warrants on four residences in Costa Mesa and one in Santa Ana.
“We needed the SWAT teams because at two locations, we had large apartment areas,†FitzPatrick said. “And we had a lot of area that was a potential for violence.â€
Police coordinated the raid for 7:10 a.m., when officers at all five locations were given the go-ahead to enter the residences. As a Newport Beach SWAT team member entered a residence in the 500 block of Hamilton Street in Costa Mesa, he accidentally discharged his weapon. The bullet lodged in a wall inside the residence. No one was injured.
FitzPatrick said that Angulo, who is believed to have been the shooter in the May 16 drive-by, was arrested without incident in the 900 block of West 18th Street in Costa Mesa.
Police also recovered a .22-caliber rifle, which is believed to be the weapon used in the shooting. They also found two other rifles and a shotgun that will be given ballistics tests to determine whether they have been used in other incidents, FitzPatrick said.
All three suspects were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Angulo and Ayala were taken to Orange County Jail. Bail was set at $250,000.
The Santa Ana juvenile was transported to Juvenile Hall.
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