This roundup of holiday mayhem and tragedies includes an after-Christmas party stabbing, an attacking burglar getting shot, a 17-year-old's slaying blamed on a gang, a motorcyclist losing his life and two 13-year-olds shot in a Christmas afternoon drive-by.
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In order we have …
A man on leave from the military went to a Christmas Eve party where he met a woman. They later went to her apartment in the 300 block of South Garnsey Street, where around 4:30 Christmas morning he was stabbed by the woman's ex-boyfriend, who'd been lying in wait, according to police. The victim was stabbed in the back but refused medical aid. His alleged attacked later called police, confessed and turned himself in, said Sgt. Mark Kozakowski of the Santa Ana Police Department. No one in this holiday love triangle has been identified yet.
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Anaheim Hills house not a creature was stirring except a burglar, who later hit the homeowner in the head with a wrench before having his back filled with shotgun pellets fired by the same homeowner, according to police. The Anaheim Police Department received a call about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday about a man with a black ski mask attempting to break into a home in the 8300 block of
East Quiet Canyon Court. Before officers arrived, the would-be burglar ran off into the night. Then, around 3:30 a.m., police received a call about a man with a black ski mask who'd grappled with a resident inside a home in the 900 block of South Country Glen Way. The homeowner was apparently bonked in the head with a wrench moments before
fetching a shotgun and firing at the burglar, who ran off. Police set up a perimeter around the neighborhood, and a bloodied man was pulled out of a garage in the 1000 block of Country Glen just before 5 a.m., said Lt. Bob Dunn, the Anaheim Police spokesman. Jeremy William Bell, 29, of Fullerton, was treated at a local hospital while awaiting charges of burglary and other counts related to the incidents at both homes, according to Dunn. The homeowner refused any medical treatment.
Just after midnight Christmas Eve, a 17-year-old boy who was among those contesting a gang injunction was shot and killed in the 500 block of South Sullivan Street, which is within the Townsend Street Injunction area, police said. Officers were dispatched to that location about a shooting, but they arrived to find no victim. That's because Angel Arellano was dropped off at a hospital and then transferred to a trauma center, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound in the torso when he was pronounced dead
at 2 a.m., according to Santa Ana Police Sgt. Michelle Miller. A pretrial hearing related to Arellano and others contesting the district attorney's attempt to include them in the Townsend Street injunction is set for Jan. 13. Meanwhile, Santa Ana homicide detectives ask anyone with information on the shooting to call them at 714.245.8390. The shooting victim Angel Arellano, a documented Townsend Street gang member, was one of the individuals the Orange County District Attorney's Office is seeking to enjoin the current Townsend Street injunction. Arellano was contesting the injunction. A pretrial hearing is currently set for January 13, 2015 on the case. This shooting occurred in the gang injunction safety zone. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call SAPD Homicide detectives at (714) 245-8390. The department reminds it offers a monetary reward for information leading to the arrest of gang homicide or felony gang assault suspects. Anonymous tips can be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855.847.6227 (855-TIP-OCCS), via occrimestoppers.org or by texting to 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S) from a cell phone. (All text messages should begin with the letters “OCCS”.)
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A 30-year-old Costa Mesa man on a motorcycle was killed early Christmas morning when he apparently ran a red light and crashed into an SUV. The county coroner later identified the motorcyclist as Jonathan Vantrease.
Two 13-year-old boys were shot in a drive-by shooting around 2 p.m. Christmas day, according to police, who add neither suffered life-threatening injuries. Both teens had been in the 1600 block of Christmas-y sounding South Evergreen Street, where someone in a passing vehicle opened fire on them, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, the Santa Ana Police spokesman. The boys were treated for wounds to their lower extremities at a local hospital but other than that details are sketchy, Bertagna acknowledged. Both victims in what is believed to be a gang-related shooting were uncooperative with police, it is unknown how many shooters were involved, and the vehicle was only described as possibly a dark-colored sedan.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.