UPDATE, MARCH 14, 3:20 P.M.: Santa Ana Police have arrested a 19-year-old man and 16-year-old boy for the gang-retaliation murder of Mario Carlos Hernandez, 20.
The older teen, Rene Mojarra, was the shooter, according to police.
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The 16-year-old, who was not identified because of his age, was the getaway driver, police say.
Both are being held without bail on suspicion of murder and gang enhancements. The motive, police say, was retaliation for recent gang incidents.
ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 13, 12:01 P.M.: Little is known about what went down in Santa Ana Monday evening other
than this: shots were fired, gang activity may have been a factor and
20-year-old Mario Carlos Hernandez is dead.
Police received a call around 6:30 p.m. about gunshots and a man down in the parking lot of apartments at North Spurgeon and East 15th streets. Officers arrived to find Hernandez, who was rushed to a local hospital where he died a short time later.
It is unknown if the victim had gang ties, but gang activity is common in the area of the shooting, according to police homicide detectives and gang-unit officers continuing to piece together what happened–and why. Anyone who can help them, even anonymously, is urged to call 714.245.8648.
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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.