A 26-year-old Santa Ana man whose body was found Monday morning in an Anaheim industrial park was shot in what police believe was a gang-related crime.
As yet there are no named suspects in the slaying of Brian Mendez.
His body was found in an industrial park in the 1600 block of South Sinclair Street around 6:30 a.m., according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt, who added the victim suffered at least one gunshot wound.
Raymond Berry, the owner of the industrial park, told reporters that his surveillance cameras, which collect still images every 10 seconds, captured a Suburban-type vehicle with no plates pulling up after midnight on Monday.
Someone with his head covered is seen getting out, another image shows him pulling out a body and a final one captures the vehicle driving off, Berry said.
The images, coupled with obvious signs of trauma on the body, led detectives to treat this as a homicide.
In an update this morning, Wyatt said the case appears to be gang-related.
Anyone with information that can help investigators is asked to call Orange County Crime Stoppers, which accepts anonymous tips, at 855.847.6227.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.