Gunfire wounded a 76-year-old man in Stanton as well as a 49-year-old pizza delivery driver who apparently tried to come to his aid and later died on Tuesday, June 28, sheriff’s officials said.
The men were found in the street after deputies received reports of shots fired at 7:20 p.m. on the 7700 block of Lessue Avenue, west of Beach Boulevard and north of Chapman Avenue.
Investigators believe the 76-year-old was being attacked and the delivery man tried to intervene, sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun said.
A resident of the area who declined to have his name published for fear of retaliation said he heard a man groaning outside. He went outside and saw several young men beating up the 76-year-old man and demanding money they claimed he owed them.
According to the resident’s account of the events, the man who later died pulled up to the altercation and grabbed a crowbar from his car in an attempt to scare away the assailants, but the man did not attack any of them. Then, one of the younger men drew a gun from his waistband and fired more than 10 rounds.
The delivery driver was identified as Juan Cristalinas of Santa Ana by Orange County coroner’s officials. He is survived by his wife and three sons, the oldest of whom is in his mid- 20s, longtime neighbor and friend Maricela Rodriguez said.
The slain man’s youngest son, Omar Cristalinas, described his father as a kind and hardworking man. He was joined by loved ones Wednesday afternoon to mourn at the modest apartment he and his family called home.
Cristalinos traveled to the United States alone from Mexico when he was a teenager, Rodriguez said. He had lived in Santa Ana for more than 20 years, and had been working as a delivery driver for most of that time. He also repaired old cars and resold them to make money on the side.
“He and his family would throw parties, but Juan could never really enjoy them because he was always working,” Rodriguez said. “He might be there at the beginning, but he’d always say ‘OK, I have to go.’”
When he wasn’t busy providing for his family, Cristalinas would often be bonding with his sons under the hood of an old compact car, Rodriguez said. And he often brought home leftover pizza to share with his neighbors.
Castalinas worked at a nearby Domino’s Pizza, Rodriguez said. Flowers and candles sat on the floor in front of the franchise’s location nearest to the scene of the shooting, at Beach Boulevard and Chapman Avenue. Another makeshift memorial was found beneath a tree at the site where the delivery driver, father and husband was fatally wounded.
Cristalinas was well-known and liked in the neighborhood, and many in the community were heartbroken to learn of his death, Rodriguez said. She was not surprised to learn he died trying to protect another person.
“That was him,” Rodriguez said. “He always wanted to help.”
Deputies were searching for four men as potential suspects, Braun said. Further description of them, or information from authorities regarding what led up to the violence were not immediately released.
A sheriff’s team specializing in gang investigations was looking into the matter, OCSD officials said.
Staff writers Hunter Lee and Quinn Wilson contributed to this story.
