Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for a shooting connected to a memorial for a man stabbed to death in Costa Mesa earlier this week, authorities said Saturday.
Officers responded at about 12:25 a.m. Friday to gunshots heard in the 1700 block of Placentia Avenue, where they located evidence of a shooting but no victims or witnesses, the Costa Mesa Police Department reported.
The department was notified less than an hour later by a hospital that a male patient was seeking emergency medical treatment for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
“The initial investigation connected this shooting to the memorial on Placentia Avenue for the deceased victim from the June 11 case,” police said in a statement.
Officers had responded to a knife attack in the same block of Placentia Avenue, near 17th Street, at about 11 p.m. Tuesday. That victim was pronounced dead at the scene and two suspects, Israel Antonio Valencia, 25, and Christopher Mathew Pena, 18, were arrested Wednesday, according to Roxi Fyad of the CMPD.
While investigating the fatal stabbing, police found a 19-year-old man who had been attacked earlier at Placentia Avenue and Shalimar Drive. The second victim, who was taken to a hospital by family members, was believed to have been attacked by the same suspect, and authorities said they suspect the attacks were gang-related.
Police were able to identify two suspects connected to the Friday morning shooting and identified them as Eric Garcilazo, 19, and Elmer Suarez-Morales, 20, both of Costa Mesa. Officers located Suarez-Morales on Friday afternoon, who was pulled over in a vehicle and arrested without incident.
Garcilazo was located around 4:30 p.m. Friday in the 2100 block of Pomona Avenue. Police said Garcilazo evaded officers and fled, resulting in a perimeter involving SWAT, a drone team and a K9 unit, creating traffic delays on Pomona Avenue between Victoria Street and Wilson Street.
About a half-hour later, officers found Garcilazo and arrested him.
Police did not elaborate on the suspected connection between the shooting and the memorial. Anyone with information on the stabbings or shooting was asked to call Costa Mesa police at 714-754-5097.