4 Arrested in Drive-By Garden Grove Killings

Police arrested four alleged members of Santa Ana’s 5th Street gang Wednesday on charges that they murdered two people last month in one of the worst drive-by shootings in Orange County history.

One of the two who allegedly fired the shots was a 14-year-old boy, police said.

The boy, whom police did not identify, and Roman Gabriel Menchaca, 19, are accused of riding in the back of a red pickup truck and firing semiautomatic rifles into a crowd of 13 people assembled outside a Garden Grove home, Garden Grove Police Sgt. Phil Mason said.

Also arrested were Louis Palomino Valadez, 28, and Robert Phillip Figueroa, 20, both of Santa Ana. The arrests were made during raids on eight locations in Santa Ana and Riverside.

In addition to the four facing murder charges, a fifth alleged gang member, Randall Albert Martinez, 20, of Santa Ana, was arrested at one of the eight locations after police seized a gun that may have been one of the murder weapons.

Killed in the Sept. 16 attack were Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, 17, a member of Santa Ana’s rival 17th Street gang, and a 4-year-old boy, Frank Fernandez Jr. At least six others were wounded, including the Fernandez boy’s mother, aunt, and 2-year-old brother, as well as a 26-year-old man who lost his leg due to the bullet wounds.

Authorities said they hope the arrests will put an end to a cycle of shootings and revenge attacks between the 17th and 5th Street gangs that have continued sporadically for more than a decade. The victims and their families said they felt relieved and gratified by the arrests.

“I feel real good about it,” said Mickie Camacho, Navarro’s mother. “I feel like justice is being done, and I hope they get what they deserve. This is not only for my son but for all the children.”

Relatives of the suspects arrested Wednesday proclaimed their innocence.

“It’s a tragedy what happened on 17th, but my son had nothing to do with it,” said Mario Menchaca, the father of Roman Gabriel Menchaca. He insisted that his son, the youngest of six children, is not a gang member.

After the arrests, the Garden Grove Police Department issued a statement saying it is “prepared for the possibility of retaliation against the 17th Street gang members by 5th Street now that members of their group have been arrested.” But police said they hoped the arrests will reduce the chances of gang retribution.

Mason said Garden Grove and Santa Ana police would increase patrols in the neighborhoods of the 5th and 17th Street gangs to forestall any counterattacks.

The 14-year-old suspect was arrested at dawn when about 60 Garden Grove and Santa Ana police raided seven homes in Santa Ana and a home and warehouse in Riverside looking for the four suspects, their guns and other gang paraphernalia, said Mason, who headed the investigation. Officers were armed with arrest warrants for the four, as well as search warrants that were obtained Tuesday night.

By early Wednesday afternoon, police had also arrested Valadez, who owned and drove the red 1989 Chevrolet pickup allegedly used in the attack, and Figueroa, 20, a passenger in the truck, according to Mason.

Valadez, who was convicted of a 1979 drive-by shooting, also served a three-year sentence for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in 1985, court records show.

Search Warrants Obtained

Police had obtained warrants to search Valadez’s parents’ Santa Ana home, a relative’s home in Riverside and a self-storage warehouse in which Valadez had stored some possessions, but Mason said they did not expect to find Valadez.

However, Valadez called his parole office Wednesday after learning that police had a warrant for his arrest. He surrendered early Wednesday afternoon.

All four suspects, who were being held without bail, have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, 11 counts of attempted murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of street terrorism, Mason said. The adults were being held in Orange County Jail and the 14-year-old was at Orange County Juvenile Hall.

“We’re charging all of them exactly the same,” Mason said. “They were acting in concert and it was a conspiracy.”

“What we’re trying to do is hit these gang members hard and swiftly,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef said.

Avdeef said the 14-year-old would be tried in Juvenile Court. Prosecutors may seek to try juveniles as adults only if they are 16 or older.

Mason said officers arrested Martinez after several guns were found during a search of his home on South Ross Street in Santa Ana. The serial number had been removed from one of the guns, and police have ordered ballistics tests to determine whether it is one of the two murder weapons. Martinez was being held on suspicion of altering a weapon and was being held Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail.

Martinez, who is Valadez’s nephew, was shot in the chest during a drive-by shooting on 5th Street in Santa Ana a week before the Garden Grove attack. Although Martinez is not a suspect in the 17th Street killings, police have speculated that his wounding may have triggered the Garden Grove shooting.

Avdeef said that Wednesday’s raid may be followed by other sweeps aimed at curbing gang violence. Orange County averages about 12 gang homicides a year, most of them in Santa Ana. “We want to put an end to the murder in west Santa Ana,” he said.

Garden Grove police said the arrests were made possible by “invaluable” intelligence from the gang unit of the Santa Ana Police Department. It took nearly three weeks to make arrests in the case--although the names of the suspects were known within hours--in part because of balky victims and witnesses with gang ties, Garden Grove Police Lt. Chuck Gibbs said.

“You try to pin them down in an official interview and you don’t get the cooperation you’d like to get, and often you get sent in the wrong direction,” Gibbs said. “That’s very typical of gang investigations.

“Often they say, ‘Well, if the cops don’t do it, we will.’ But then when the cops try to do something, they don’t often help,” he added.

Inez Fernandez, the 19-year-old aunt of the slain youngster, said Wednesday that she believes the four men became suspects after they bragged about the attack.

“They laughed about it and word got around,” she said. “These guys will pay for this in jail. They will be taken care of there. Nobody likes baby-killers.”

Mickie Camacho, Navarro’s mother, said she had heard the same rumors on her side of Westminster Avenue, which divides the territory claimed by 17th Street from the 5th street turf.

“There’s street talk going around that they were bragging that these four guys did the job,” Camacho said.

She added that Menchaca had known her son since the two attended junior high school together in Irvine, but the two never got along.

“Roman always had bad feelings for Mike. He always did,” she said.

Camacho said she hoped the arrests would finally settle the score between the feuding gangs.

“This has been retaliation on top of retaliation. What else are they going to do? Are they going to go out and kill more kids?”

But Menchaca’s relatives said he is innocent and has witnesses who will testify that he was somewhere else at the time of the shooting.

A man who identified himself as Menchaca’s brother-in-law said, “He wasn’t in a gang, but you have to be friends with everybody here or they beat you up.”

A former 5th Street gang member, Phillip Acedo, said the two alleged triggermen are innocent.

“They’re babies,” Acedo said. “Why would they do something like that?”

ARRESTS IN GANG SLAYINGS

These are the adults arrested in by Garden Grove and Santa Ana police; a 14-year-old boy was also arrested. Police say all belong to Santa Ana’s 5th Street gang.

Louis Palomino Valadez, 28. Has lived in Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Convicted of assault in a 1979 gang drive-by shooting. Victim believed to be a rival 17th Street gang member. Paroled in 1981. Arrested in a 1985 sting after delivering five kilograms of cocaine to an undercover officer. Pleaded guilty, sentenced to three years in prison. Paroled in September, 1987. Owns and drove the 1989 red Chevrolet pickup used in the Sept. 16 shooting. Also under investigation for possible narcotics violations.

Roman Gabriel Menchaca, 19. Arrested at his home, 5214 W. 5th St., Santa Ana. Police believe him to be one of two triggermen who rode in the back of Valadez’s pickup. No Orange County convictions. Family members insist he is innocent and can produce witnesses to prove he was somewhere else at the time.

Randall Albert Martinez, 20. Not a suspect in the homicides. Arrested after police raided his home at 606 S. Ross St., Santa Ana, and found several guns, including one with serial numbers removed. Ballistics tests ordered to determine whether it is one of the two murder weapons. Martinez, Valadez’s nephew and also known as “Speedy,” was shot in the chest in a drive-by attack on 5th Street in Santa Ana a week before the Sept. 16 shooting. The second drive-by may have been retaliation, police say.

Robert Phillip Figueroa, 20. Last known address 5213 W. Roosevelt St., Santa Ana. Believed to be a passenger in Valadez’s pickup. No Orange County criminal convictions.

Sources: Police and court records.