Attempted carjackings result in 4 arrests

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Police arrested four people in connection with two

attempted carjackings in the city early Sunday.

Veronica Rose Zabala, 23, Natalie Zabala, 20, and Jose Ricardo

Espinoza, 19, all Rialto residents, and Hector Bautista, 28, of San

Bernardino were being held on suspicion of attempted murder and attempted

carjacking, officials said.

Although a few shots were fired, none of the suspects, victims or

officers were hurt during the back-to-back attempts to carjack, police

said.

The incidents do not appear to be gang-related, said Sgt. Don Holford

of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

“It looks like their car broke down, and they wanted a car to get back

home,” he said. “For us, it turned out to be a wild night.”

Police report the first incident happened about 3:30 a.m., when a man

and a woman walked up to a woman sitting in her car as she waited at a

red light at Bristol Street and Paularino Avenue, heading southbound. The

approaching woman demanded that the driver give her the car while the man

pulled out a gun and pointed it at the driver, police said. The driver

backed up, turned and sped northbound on Bristol Street, police said.

A friend of the driver saw the incident and tried to follow her. His

car was hit by a bullet when one of the suspects fired his gun twice,

police said.

Officials said all four suspects struck again an hour later when one

of them approached a woman waiting at a red light at Baker Street and

Airway Avenue and asked her for a cigarette. One of the others pointed a

handgun at her and demanded the car.

All four walked away after the woman refused and screamed, police

said. Officials said one suspect was overheard telling another not to

shoot the victim.

The suspects were found a short while later and arrested at Bristol

Street and Irvine Avenue in Newport Beach after a search by officers from

Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Irvine police departments, Orange County

Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol.

Officers found the gun near Clinton Street and Airway Avenue. They

also found the suspects’ vehicle at Baker Street and the Costa Mesa

Freeway with a broken axle.

The four suspects were being held in Costa Mesa jail with bail set at

$250,000. They are scheduled to be arraigned at the Harbor Justice Center

today.