UPDATE, DEC. 7, 4:33 P.M.: 20-year-old Brenda Romero was walking back home after dropping off food to her boyfriend around 6 p.m. Thursday when she met her end, according to Santa Ana Police.
Witnesses saw a a tall man in a hoodie clutching her by the arm and holding a handgun against her as she was forced along the 1100 block of East Chestnut Avenue.
]
The witness reports Romero defiantly stopped, said something to the man and sat on the curb. Having briefly turned away, the witness next heard a loud “pop” before spinning around to see the man standing over Romero while still holding the handgun. He fled and she wound up in the gutter with a head wound. She was later taken off life support at the hospital.
Romero had no criminal record and no known enemies, according to her family.
Police say any more tips called in to 714.245.8390 can remain anonymous.
ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 5, 10:26 A.M.: Brenda Romero was found lying on a sidewalk, clinging to life, near the train tracks at Chestnut and Grand avenues in Santa Ana just before 6:50 p.m. Thursday.
The 20-year-old had been shot in the head.
Rushed to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where she underwent surgery, Romero was later taken off life support and pronounced dead on
Friday.
All that is known about her killer is he's a male. Santa Ana Police homicide detectives are not only looking for him but any witnesses who can help the investigation. If you know something, call detectives at 714.245.8390.
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.