EDITORIALS:

The shots struck Wednesday night, in an alley off Baker Street in Costa Mesa, and the lives of four young men and their families will never be the same. Even more tragically, the life of 23-year-old Israel Maciel ended in that alley near where he lived.

Our thoughts, as well as those of the community’s, are with his family and friends in this most terrible of times.

The shootings understandably rocked the small apartment community where the five men ? ranging in age from 17 to 25 ? were injured and killed. Mothers kept close watch over children on Thursday. Neighbors talked in hushed tones. A memorial to Maciel hung precariously at the scene.

Heading into the weekend, police still were searching for any solid semblance of motive or a suspect, and as the hours pass, the likelihood that they will find the shooter ? a white man in his 20s described as having a shaved head, a mustache and goatee, and driving a silver or metallic blue four-door Chevrolet Impala ? grows smaller and smaller.

The shooting was the fourth in Costa Mesa this year, which is a small but hardly insignificant increase from year’s past given the lives lost each time. And while police say they are not sure that the latest shooting ? which claimed more victims than any in recent years ? is gang-related, others have been, and there have been signs of increased gang activity in the city this year.

It all makes for frightening and unsettling times. And it raises questions, which can be summed up simply: What is going on?

Is gang activity, which had been contained if not controlled for years, really on the rise? Are gang members becoming more bold in our community? With details still so sketchy, is it fair to wonder if the combative atmosphere in Costa Mesa since the City Council decided to enforce immigration laws contributed to this tragedy?

Finally, whether this shooting is gang-related, is there a sense that the plan the City Council approved in June to add two officers to the gang unit ? a plan city leaders and police officers said could eliminate gang activity within five years ? still viable?

It is clear that such questions, and more, need to be asked. And while the answers will not be able to bring back Maciel and the others killed this year, perhaps they can ensure others will not be added to this tragic list of people taken from their families far too soon.