Man Slain in Sidewalk Shooting : Crime: Two other men are wounded in Santa Ana when they argue with three passing teen-agers, one of whom opens fire.

By JAMES M. GOMEZ

June 15, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA — Police are searching for three teen-agers in the fatal shooting of a Santa Ana man and the wounding of two other men.

“It is still under investigation,” police spokeswoman Maureen Haacker said Friday. “We don’t have much on it.”

The shooting near the intersection of McFadden Avenue and Main Street took place at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, police Lt. Robert Sayne said.

The victim, Jose Luis Gonzalez, 26, and two friends, Pedro Gonzalez (no relation), 24, and Martin Rivera, 27, were standing in a driveway at an apartment complex where they live in the 100 block of McFadden, police said.

As the men chatted, the three teen-agers walked slowly past them, Haacker said.

An argument broke out, Haacker said, and one of the youths pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired at least three shots, striking Jose Gonzalez in the head.

The two other men were wounded as they tried to flee.

Pedro Gonzalez was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange with gunshot wounds in his neck, right arm and wrist, hospital spokeswoman Fran Tardiff said. He was listed in serious condition.

Rivera was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was listed in good condition, Haacker said. Jose Gonzalez was dead at the scene.

Details remain sketchy, but it does not appear that the shooting is related to gangs, Haacker said.

Angel Gonzalez, 50, Pedro Gonzalez’s father, said he had just sat down to eat dinner about 8:30 p.m. when a neighbor knocked on his door and told him that his son had been shot.

Gonzalez, who did not believe the neighbor, said his son was asleep, and pointed to his son’s room.

But a few minutes later, Gonzalez went outside and discovered his wounded son.

Pedro Gonzalez’s cousin, Gloria Ambriaz, 16, said the family heard three loud shots, and then a minute later loud knocking on the door.

“We didn’t know what happened,” Ambriaz said.

Juan Perez, who lives across the street from the apartments, said he heard three distinct shots but did not bother to investigate until police arrived about 15 minutes later.

“There’s too many people here,” Perez said as he washed his pickup truck Friday morning. “Too much trouble.”