UPDATE NO. 6, JULY 30, 2:51 P.M.: Another day, another suspect in the murder of David Bruce Douglas is being released from jail.
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Following the same turn of events that accompanied the arrest of David Steven Ortega for the fatal shooting of Douglas on July 19 in unincorporated Anaheim, the Orange County Sheriff's Department presented its case against Edgar Ramirez for the crime, and the district attorney's office (OCDA) rejected it, confirmed Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's spokesman. “Ramirez will be transported from court to the Orange County Jail and be processed for release,” Hallock said this afternoon. “… The investigation in this case ongoing.” (Anyone with information that can help homicide investigators is asked to call 714.647.7055, 714.647.7000 or, anonymously, 855.847.6227.) Prosecutors have asked investigators to gather more evidence, according to Roxi Fyad of the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Ortega and Ramirez remain under suspicion as authorities continue to investigate the case, Fyad told City News Service.
UPDATE NO. 5, JULY 29, 12:44 P.M.: The Orange County Sheriff's Department has announced a new arrest in the fatal shooting of David Bruce Douglas, who had confronted taggers in unincorporated Anaheim on July 19. After an interview with investigators at sheriff's headquarters in Santa Ana, 20-year-old Edgar Ramirez of Anaheim was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into Orange County Jail on Tuesday, according to Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's spokesman. More information about why Ramirez was arrested, his booking photo or possible relationship to previous arrestee David Steven Ortega is being released this time, added Hallock. Ramirez, who is being held on $1 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
UPDATE NO. 4, JULY 27, 12:55 P.M.: A man who tried to stop two taggers from defacing property Sunday night was stabbed and beaten at a location in Anaheim that is a little more than 2 1/2 miles from where David Bruce Douglas was fatally shot while confronting taggers on July 19. The unidentified man was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was listed in critical condition after last night's 9:45 attack in the 100 block of South Stinson Street. He was in a pickup when he saw two males painting graffiti on an apartment, got out of his truck to intervene and was stabbed multiple times and beaten, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Jonathan Yepes. The taggers then fled east on Lincoln Avenue in a newer model four-door dark blue Nissan sedan. Police did not say whether they believe there is a connection to the similar attack on Douglas but do ask that anyone with information contact them at 714.765.1900.
UPDATE NO. 3, JULY 23, 5:42 P.M.: Because prosecutors have declined to file charges at this time, David Steven Ortega was released from custody in the murder of David Bruce Douglas in unincorporated Anaheim Sunday night, the sheriff's department announced. Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock, the department spokesman, says the investigation is continuing and more evidence is being gathered.
UPDATE NO. 2, JULY 22, 9:24 A.M.: The Orange County Sheriff's Department just announced an arrest in the murder of David Bruce Douglas in unincorporated Anaheim Sunday night. David Steven Ortega was arrested near his Chino residence Tuesday, according to Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's department spokesman, who added the 32-year-old was being held without bail in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder. “The investigation is ongoing and no further details are being released,” said Hallock, who noted that includes no booking photo at this time. Ortega is due in court Thursday.
UPDATE NO. 1, JULY 20, 7:10 P.M.: The man who was fatally shot in unincorporated Anaheim Sunday night has been identified as David Bruce Douglas of Anaheim. Douglas and a 39-year-old man who was also shot, remains hospitalized and is expected to survive got into a confrontation with the unknown gunman about tagging in the area before shots were fired, sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock told City News Service.
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ORIGINAL POST, JULY 20, 12:15 P.M.: A 51-year-old man died in the hospital this morning after being one of two men found with gunshot wounds in a Ford SUV stopped in the intersection of Poona Drive and Lullaby Lane in unincorporated Anaheim Sunday night.
Sheriff's investigators launched an investigation after deputies responding to reports of a shooting rolled up to the location and found both men who'd been shot in the upper body just after 9:50 p.m. They were treated by paramedics and taken to an area hospital. The county coroner is not identifying the man who died pending notification of next of kin. The other man, who is in his 30s, is expected to survive.
“Based on the preliminary investigation and information obtained at the scene, it appears the victims were in a confrontation with the suspect just prior to the shooting,” said Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's spokesman. “The suspect fled the area on foot with approximately 3-5 others subjects immediately after the shooting.”
The shooter is described only as a male Hispanic in his late teens to early twenties. No motive or indication the shooting was gang-related in known yet, according to Hallock. Anyone with additional information is asked to call Orange County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Unit at 714.647.7055 or 714.647.7000.
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”.)
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
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.