Police Seek Attackers Who Shot 2 in a Crowd

NEWPORT BEACH —  Police here are searching for several people who shot into a crowd outside a dance party late Friday night, injuring two teen-agers.

A 19-year-old Santa Ana man and a 17-year-old Anaheim youth received gunshot wounds to the upper body and were taken to a local hospital, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis.

Gonis said the pair’s wounds are not life-threatening, but both youths will probably remain in the hospital for a couple of days. Police did not release the victims’ names or the name of the hospital.

An altercation took place about 11:30 p.m. at the Plaza de Cafes, a food court at 4881 Birch St. near John Wayne Airport that occasionally opens as an after-hours music hall.

Gonis said the fight broke out inside the auditorium-size building as several hundred Orange County teen-agers and young adults were dancing. The fight, involving several dozen people, then moved outside, where multiple shots from a handgun and a shotgun were fired, Gonis said.

“We probably had multiple suspects firing randomly at a crowd of people without provocation, and that is pretty consistent with gang-related shootings that have happened elsewhere in the county,” Gonis said. “That is our suspicion at this time.”

Police are looking for a Latino man, approximately 18 years old, with a mustache, and a black sedan, possibly a Ford Thunderbird, that may have been involved. Descriptions of the others were not available.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Newport Beach Police Department at (800) 550-NBPD.